Langton Lions "skate hard" to win OMHA DD semis
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An OMHA banner will be going up at the Langton Arena, but the exact wording – champions or finalists – has not yet been determined.
The Langton Lions novice rep hockey team eliminated Norwich in four semifinal games Sunday, winning the six-point OMHA DD novice series on home ice with a 5-2 victory. The OMHA DD finals are expected to begin after the March Break.
"They (Norwich) have a good team, they really do," credited Lions coach Kevin Vanacker after a 3-0 loss in Norwich Saturday. "We knew there was the potential for them to win hockey games against us, and we had potential to win against them. I thought it could go either way."
"They just had a little bit more jump than us," said Lions' Austyn McDowell, recalling their only loss since the round-robin. "We just couldn't win. We tried our best, but it didn't turn out the way it was supposed to."
"We weren't skating hard," said Lions right winger Samuel Connors.
"We couldn't get it out of our end," said Lions defenceman Jack Pettit, recalling only one other occasion this year, in Simcoe, when they were shut out. "Kieran (Gubesch), our goalie, was making good saves."
The Lions grabbed an early 1-0 lead Sunday on a goal by Marek Vanacker. Norwich equalized midway through the second, but Langton regained its one-goal lead with a last-second Alex Deroo goal later in the period.
"I think we could have hit the net more often," said McDowell.
Vanacker made it 3-1 in the third, and the Lions added insurance scoring two more less than a minute apart with goals from Case Reimer and Vanacker. Norwich got a power-play goal in the final minute, and they were skating hard, said Langton's Jax Van Es, but the Lions were able to hold on for a 5-2 win.
"We had more breakaways," said McDowell, "And we were doing more what the coach said... to ice it down when we get a penalty."
"We skated a lot harder," said Lions' Jax Van Es.
"This game we skated way harder," Connors agreed. "Worked harder – skating, backchecking."
Penalty killing was also good Sunday, said Connors. "We were shooting it out of our end, shooting it to their end."
"We got it in their end and got more goals," nodded Pettit, happy with their defensive game which limited Norwich snipers Aiden Kindurys and Noah Seymour to just one assist.
"We had a better game today," he nodded.
"We played a much better game today," agreed coach Kevin Vanacker. "Our kids rose to the occasion, I think. The last game wasn't one of our better games. Just came out flat yesterday and Norwich came out ready to play."
Langton will meet the winner of the Thamesford-West Lorne Novice West DD-D semifinal, which started Saturday.
"Last year we went to the semifinals," said Pettit, "and we lost against Plattsville."
This year, there's a banner for the Lions. And they would like it to read 'champions.'
"Excited," said Connors. "We have to play hard, play aggressive."
"We have to skate hard," nodded Van Es.
2005-06
Langton Area Minor Hockey Association last raised an OMHA banner in 2005-06 when the Master Mechanic peewees won the C crown. Coached by Steve Ghesquiere, Darryl Vandendriessche, Cam Sinnesael, Jason Juhasz and Scott Balazs, Master Mechanic players included Zachary Alton, Wade Barry, Tanner Coderre, Greg DeGroote, Mitchell Docker, Chelsie Grant, Travis Jacobs, Trevor Kozack, Jesse Long, Matt Money, Jonny Neuman, Kyle Rebry, Michael Rebry, Mitchell Townsend, Colin VanDaele, Zach VanLouwe, and Dylan Zavits.
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GAME 3
Every game is 'big' in OMHA playdowns. And they only get bigger.
"This was a big one, for sure," nodded Langton Lions novice rep coach Kevin Vanacker after the Lions doubled Norwich 4-2 in Game 2 of their OMHA DD semifinals Wednesday night in Langton. "It was a good game, we needed this one."
The six-point semifinals had opened Tuesday in Norwich – another big game won by Langton in overtime.
"It was close, 3-2," said Vanacker. "They are a good team."
"We're very evenly matched," nodded Lions assistant coach Bryan Swain, noting Norwich had tied it Tuesday night with 58 seconds left in the third period and Langton score the winner two minutes into OT.
"It was a bit of a floppy goal," said Lions goalie Kieran Gubesch, recalling Norwich's game-tying effort. "I tried to... but I didn't get across quick enough."
"It was really tense," said Lions defenceman Bayden Swain, recalling Tuesday's overtime period, "because Marek (Vanacker) and Kyle (Devos) just whipped it across the net and almost got it in. Alex (Deroo) got it five-hole and it was 3-2."
"That was our first overtime, I think," noted Marek Vanacker.
"We've had good goaltending," said coach Kevin Vanacker, "and I would say our guys don't let up. They've (Norwich) got some good players and they don't let up either. They keep coming, so we've got to be on top of them."
"Pretty busy," summed up Gubesch.
"I try to stay on my toes, watch the play behind me," said Gubesch, who was working on a shutout until the final minutes Wednesday when Norwich was circling the Langton zone.
Both teams scored third period short-handed goals Wednesday night. For Langton it was Marek Vanacker, who made it 4-1 wristing a shot off the right post on a short-handed breakaway at 11:25. Norwich's Aiden Kindurys replied short-handed with just under five minutes left to play.
"We do work on the penalty kill," said coach Kevin Vanacker. "Positioning is important for us. On a penalty kill, all of a sudden you take one player away and guys don't know where to be and they start running around. It's more of a change for the forwards. It's definitely important for us. We try to remain calm, and we try to stay out of that penalty box."
Langton took a 1-0 lead 1:12 into Wednesday's game on a top-shelf shot by Marek Vanacker and never gave it up, leading 2-1 after two, and 4-1 in the third.
"It hit the post, then the goalie's skate," said Vanacker recalling his second goal, a sharp-angle shot from the right corner that banked in.
"We feel... not that worried," said Lions forward Case Reimer, enjoying the two-goal and three-goal leads.
It was a different story Tuesday night going into overtime.
"Really worried," Reimer grinned. "Like skating my butt off."
"I think we were pretty confidenct," said Gubesch.
"Pretty much every game I tell the team that we rely on 10 skaters and a goalie to be 'on' and working together as a team," said coach Vanacker. "What produces good games for us is when everybody's working. We need everybody."
Defensively, the Lions were able to limit Norwich's top two scorers – Noah Seymour (10) and Kindurys (5) – to one goal each.
"I'd say 5 and 10 are pretty good skaters," said Bayden Swain. "They're pretty tough to pokecheck because they're good at deking out the defence."
The key to stopping them – and not getting deked, said Swain, is protecting the middle of the ice.
"I kind of lead them out to the boards so they don't have a clear shot on net, they have to shoot from the side."
"We backchecked good," said Reimer. "And we passed good – pretty good."
"We backcheck, big-time, and that helps us," agreed coach Vanacker. "We do have some fast skaters who can get back, and they do. Defensively we try to focus on getting the puck out of our end, moving it up the ice.
And the breakouts worked well for the Lions, he added.
"We are doing well – we've got everybody playing well."
Norwich and Langton had played twice in the OMHA DD preliminary round-robin and the Knighthawks had the edge with a win and tie.
"They were both close games, there's been no domination either way," said the coach, repeating, "They (Norwich) are a good team."
"It's just that we got better," said Reimer. "Passed more, backchecked more."
The six-point series continues Saturday in Norwich at 1 p.m., and if necessary Game 4 will be back in Langton Sunday (12 p.m.). Langton needs one win to take the series, while Norwich needs three.
Reimer expects a battle Saturday.
"I think there's pressure on us to win Game 3," he said.
"Tonight was really important," said teammate Bayden Swain. "I think they've got the pressure. If we win, they're out and that would be pretty good. So they've got most of the pressure."
The key to winning Saturday, said Gubesch, is a good start.
"I think we're going to have to get a good start in the first period, get a couple goals," said the goalie.
"They're going to be flying so we have to play a lot better than tonight, I think," said Marek Vanacker. "It's going to be pretty hard. Just because it's the end of the series and we want to win it. If we win the series, we get another one, and if we win all those three we get a banner to hang up."
"We knew that we had a team with a lot of desire," said coach Kevin Vanacker. "And the kids, as I told them after the game tonight, they surprise us all the time with the effort they put forth in the game. Win or lose we're always going to be proud of these guys just based on the way they play... the amount of heart they play with."