Lakers Advance to MSL Final After Finishing Off Oakville in Four Games

By Scott Arnold

The Peterborough Century 21 Lakers are headed back to the MSL final after beating the Oakville Rock 14-8 Tuesday night at the Peterborough Memorial Centre to win their semifinal series in four games.

Thomas Hoggarth comes over to help up teammate Ryan Lanchbury who was knocked down after scoring a goal last night in the lakers 14-8 Game 4 win over the rock (photo courtesy of the peterborough lakers, via David Pickering)

Alex Simmons opened the scoring for Oakville, but Ryan Lanchbury answered for Peterborough less than three minutes later on the power play. Justin Lee then put the Rock back in front before Lanchbury scored again to tie it at 2-2. Thomas Hoggarth and Lanchbury added the next two Lakers goals before Rob Hellyer scored with 4:43 left in the period to make it 5-4 after one.

The Lakers added four more goals in the second. Brad McCulley, Mike Robinson, Alex Pace and Hellyer all scored for Peterborough, while Oakville got goals from Jake Darlison and Alex Simmons to leave the Lakers with a 9-7 lead heading into the third.

Peterborough then put the game away with five goals in the final period. Hellyer scored again, followed by Colton Armitage, Justin Sykes, Thomas Hoggarth and Jordan Stouros. Simmons scored his fourth of the night for Oakville.

Drew Hutchison stopped 48 of 56 shots to earn the win.

Lanchbury led the way offensively with 11 points, scoring twice and adding nine assists. Hellyer had four goals and three assists, while Hoggarth (2g 2a) and Sykes (1g 3a) each finished with four points. Robinson added three points, while Stouros, Pace, McCulley and Armitage also found the net.

The win sends Peterborough into the MSL final against the Six Nations Chiefs, who swept the Cobourg Kodiaks in the other semifinal. The Chiefs are making their sixth straight final appearance and are looking for their fourth straight championship.

The Lakers have been a constant in the MSL championship picture as well. They have appeared in every final since 2014 and have reached 20 finals since 2004, missing only the 2013 final outside of the two COVID-cancelled seasons. Peterborough has won 11 of those championships.

This will be the 11th time the Lakers and Chiefs have met in the MSL final since their first meeting in 2012, with the two teams splitting their previous 10 series. The exceptions in that stretch came in 2013, when the Chiefs faced Brooklin, and 2018, when Peterborough faced Oakville.

Now, the Lakers and Chiefs are set to write another chapter in what has become one of the league’s most familiar championship rivalries.

The championship series schedule has not yet been announced.

Scott Arnold is a Journalist and Content Creator at PTBOCanada Media Inc

Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Tiktok, Youtube and LinkedIn. Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Sign up for our newsletter here.