Lambton Shores Predators Win Has Chatham-Kent Flavour

They might be a Junior B team more than an hour up Highway 21, but the Lambton Shores Predators, who play out of Forest, Ontario, have a decided Chatham-Kent influence.

Led by new head coach Mark Davis, the former bench boss of the Wallaceburg Lakers, the team won their first game of the season 5-4 in a shootout over the Lasalle Vipers. Starting the season with a win might not seem like news, but for the reborn and revamped Lambton Shores Predators, it is recognition of the long summer spent recruiting and training to fix a team that won only 4 games last season.

Sam Jasmin opened the scoring, and Brendon Merritt added a goal and two assists, both players also former Wallaceburg Lakers. Cody Trowell, a member of the Chatham-Kent Cyclones last season, assisted on the tying goal with under 2 minutes to play, and then scored the shootout winner.

According to Davis, his team performed the way he expects them to play all season; without giving up, no matter what,

“We have a team who is going to work very hard and not give up no matter what the score is.”

The team also features Bryan Boersma, a Blenheim Minor Hockey product who played ‘AAA’ in Chatham-Kent last season, and former Wallaceburg Lakers Jordan Belanger, Kody Ryan, Brandon Butler, and Garrett Heiser. Boersma didn’t dress for the Predators’ opener as he was suspended in a preseason game.

Although this young team, who has a distinct Chatham-Kent feel, will undoubtedly take their lumps this season, expectations according to Head Coach Mark Davis are still high,

“Every year your expectations are high. Ours is to make the playoffs,” said Davis. “That’s our number one goal. We got 22 guys in that dressing room that are going to do their best to make sure we accomplish that.”

The Lambton Shores Predators play this Thursday at Memorial Arena in Chatham against the Chatham Jr.B Maroons at 7pm.