Impressive Debut & Goaltending Not Enough For Lakers
George Hill stopped 57 of 62 shots Wednesday night in a 5-3 loss to Lakeshore – Photo courtesy of Jocelyn McLaughlin
Keenan Clarke made a strong impression in his debut for the struggling Wallaceburg Lakers, who dropped their tenth straight game in a 5-3 loss to the Lakeshore Canadiens on Wednesday night.
Clarke scored two goals in his first game while netminder George Hill made 57 saves in an entertaining affair.
In one of the strongest outings of the season from the 3-22 Lakers, Wallaceburg was without top guns George Wood and Brendan Ritchie, along with several regulars including their number one defenceman Jacob Theoret.
New blood was injected into the line-up and seemed to create a buzz, keeping Wallaceburg competitive for the majority off regulation, behind the miraculous play of Hill, who stopped four breakaway chances and a two-on-none opportunity among his 57 total.
Sebastian Kanally opened the scoring with a howitzer from the top of the circle just one minute into the first. The unknown Keenan Clarke, added to the official roster minutes before puck drop, tied the game at one after a mad scramble in front of the Lakeshore goal. The Habs and Lakers would trade goals again before the end of the first frame with Kyle Gagnon capitalizing on a rebound opportunity for Lakeshore and Jackson Gray blasting a shot high glove side for the Lakers.
Defenceman Aaron Moore’s toe drag and heavy wrist shot just inside the blue line during a Lakeshore power-play would lead to a go-ahead-goal with four and a half minutes left in the second. Not to be outdone, Clarke would score his second of the game with 25 seconds left in the second after line-mate Justin Browning sacrificed his body in the offensive zone to push the puck up the right wing side. Clarke fired a wrist shot that beat Brendan Shuck near-side.
Deadlocked at three goals after two periods, Lakeshore turned on the heat in the third with goals from Austin Jennings and Brendan Crundwell to extend the Lakers’ losing streak to ten games in a row.