Kings Reign On Lakers Opener
Wade Esselment (#5, left) was one of several players facing off against former teammates in Wednesday’s Wallaceburg Lakers home opener with the Dresden Jr Kings. Photo courtesy of Jocelyn McLaughlin
Going into the Wallaceburg Lakers home opener against the local rival Dresden Junior Kings on Wednesday night, Kings head coach Rob Vanderyt told 99.1 CKXS it’s always tough playing in the opposition’s barn on their home opener.
Fans were witness to just that – a tough, spirited and competitive 60 minutes, but Dresden was able to edge out the hometown Lakers by a final of 4-3. The eventual game-winning-goal was of the shorthanded variety from Kings captain Derrick VanEvery with 50 seconds remaining in the second period.
The back-and-forth affair was tightly officiated and never saw more than a one-goal lead with five goals scored in the first period alone. Dillon Liberty opened the scoring for Dresden with his first of the year two-and-a-half minutes into play after Kevin Ritzer picked off a Wallaceburg clearing attempt. Former Jr King Justin Melo responded to tie the game at one less than a minute later with a shorthanded wrap around goal, fooling former long-time Lakers goalie Joel Sowinski. Dresden would regain the lead mid-way through the first on Will Tetzlaf’s third goal of the season in just his second game. The Lakers did not sit idly by and proved they can find offense from their blueline with a howitzer from third-year D-man Jacob Theoret and a deflection off a Cory Lucier point shot which appeared to have been deflected by rookie Brett Farr for his first Jr “C” goal.
With a 3-2 Lakers lead after 20 minutes, Dresden managed to hold Wallaceburg off the scoresheet for the remainder of the game and saw key saves from Sowinski in net. Sowinski had previously started 85 games for Wallaceburg over the past three seasons. Lakers goaltender Derion Ducedre also came up with timely stops, but saw two second period goals slip by, including Tetzlaf grabbing his second of the game and fourth on the year. VanEvery’s shorthanded goal at 19:10 of the second sealed the deal.
Dresden’s 16-year-old rookie Brady Hogg followed up his Jr C debut and game-winning-goal against Alvinston by throwing some fisticuffs for the first time in his Jr C career, dropping the gloves for a quick tilt with Alex Ritchie in the third. Mike Brown, captain of the Lakers was assessed a nine-minute penalty after instigating a fight with Kevin Ritzer of the Kings. Dresden was awarded a nine-minute power play to end regulation, a lengthy power play they were unable to capitalize on thanks to a hard-working Lakers penalty kill. Hogg, Ritchie and Brown will all miss their next games due to misconducts.
The game saw former teammates square off for the first time, with the Lakers ‘ Justin Melo and Wade Esselment formerly Jr Kings, and Joel Sowinski and Brock Daugherty meeting their former Wallaceburg teammates for the first time.
Dresden improved to 2-0 on the year while Wallaceburg falls to 0-2.