Lakers Eliminate Rock, Will Face Chiefs in MSL Finals

Home floor has not been kind to either team in the Peterborough Century 21 Lakers vs Oakville Rock best-of-five semifinal. It’s a streak the Lakers are hoping to break on Tuesday in Game 4 after winning Game 3 by a score of 7-3 on Saturday night at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre, giving them a 2-1 series lead. Game 4 is set for 8 p.m. at the Memorial Centre. Tickets are available online at Ticketmaster or through the Doane Grant Thornton box office by phone or in person. Once again, it was a quiet start for the Lakers – offensively, anyway. The defence and goaltender Drew Hutchison, who made 51 saves, were wide awake off the hop, blocking shots and moving the Rock exactly where they wanted them. The first period ended in a 1-1 tie with Colton Armitage getting the Lakers’ goal. A burst of offence late in the second period gave Peterborough a 4-1 lead heading to the third. Ryan Lanchbury scored twice in a minute and eight seconds, first firing in an outside shot using a defender as a screen and then floating the ball into the corner with a low shot. Armitage scored his second of the game 36 seconds later, darting in towards the crease. Alex Simmons scored twice for Oakville in the third period, but the Rock were outdone by a heads up pass from Brenden Boyle, who intercepted the ball on a three-on-one break, to Thomas Hoggarth, who scored the Lakers’ fifth goal of the night after taking a hard hit from a defender. Matt Gilray added two empty netters for insurance. Peterborough was missing several regulars from the lineup but battled through both that and some adversity with discipline as they gave up six power play opportunities – however, they held Oakville scoreless on the man advantage. It will take much preparation and focus to beat Oakville on Tuesday and secure the series win, and one other ingredient, according to the rookie Armitage: the fans. “I expect a lot of energy from the crowd to get us going,” he said after the game. “All gas, no breaks and we’ll finish it off on Tuesday.” Post-Game Quotes “We gave it our all throughout the whole 60 minutes. I was given the opportunity to have the ball in my stick a little bit more tonight and we all clicked well. Everyone was pitching in from the start of the game through to the end so it was nice to see.” – Colton Armitage, two goals “They left everything on the floor here tonight. I don’t think there’s one guy without an ice bag, not one guy that’s not a little bit tired. They played well and that’s what we need and we’re going to need it again Tuesday. Give these guys credit, they keep coming and coming and Tuesday is going to be the same thing, they’re just going to keep coming at us.” – Mike Hasen, head coach “The refs loved to blow the whistle tonight. It was tough but they boys battled hard and they killed them all off, and gotta give kudos to Hutch… You have to play tough, you have to play hard but you gotta know that once you get the lead you have to eat a couple and keep your composure.” – Dustyn Birkhof, defender Of Note - Peterborough fired 44 shots on goal while Oakville had 54. - After two perfect games in a row, Jake Withers won 12/13 faceoffs in Game 3. The only faceoff he lost was called on a procedural, meaning the referee decided he committed an infraction and the faceoff was awarded to Oakville. - Shortly after losing that faceoff, Withers’ left shoe blew up. It tore on the inseam right from the toe to the heel. Luckily, Dustyn Birkhof was able to loan Withers an old shoe (he got fancy new ones for playoffs!) - Peterborough was 1/4 on the power play Oakville was 0/6. Full Lakers Scoring Ryan Lanchbury 2-1 Matt Gilray 2-0 Colton Armitage 2-0 Thomas Hoggarth 1-0 Rob Hellyer 0-4 Dylan Hutchison 0-2 Jake Withers 0-1 Robert Hope 0-1 Colton Armstrong 0-1 PHOTOS BY ANNA TAYLOR & RYAN MCCULLOUGH/OAKVILLE ROCK

The Peterborough Century 21 Lakers knew it wouldn’t be that easy. The Lakers fell 11-5 to the Oakville Rock at the Memorial Centre in Game 2 of their best-of-five MSL semifinal series. The series is even at one game apiece after the Lakers took Game 1 on Tuesday 10-7. Game 3 is Saturday in Oakville, and Game 4 back in Peterborough Tuesday. If necessary, Game 5 is Wednesday in Oakville. Tickets for Game 4 are on sale now via Ticketmaster and the Doane Grant Thornton Box Office. “We got outworked out there,” said goaltender Drew Hutchison, who made 43 saves. “We started the game asleep. We didn’t have a good start to the game. We had a good second but in the third we kind of fell asleep again and weren’t dictating like we normally do on defence and forcing them into the positions we like to get them. Myself included, I didn’t have a good game.” After Game 1’s slow opening period, the Lakers had wanted to start the game well but couldn’t execute the game plan. “We’ve been a slow starting team all year. I’m not sure why that [is] but we have to find an answer pretty quickly,” said Holden Cattoni, who returned to the lineup. The Lakers were held scoreless in both the first and third periods, a rare occurrence. “The way that we played in the first and the third is wildly different than what gave us success in the second,” Cattoni continued, “so we have to try to find that energy and that line of being aggressive and putting them on their heels [to create] opportunities for us. [Oakville] played well, you have to give them credit for sure but we proved in the second period that when we do the things it takes to be successful, we can be successful.” Oakville led 4-0 after the first. Thomas Hoggarth and Ryan Lanchbury scored 21 seconds apart to open the second before Cattoni closed the gap to one with a shorthanded marker. Justin Tavares and Alex Simmons scored 4-on-4 to re-up the lead but Hoggarth scored his second and third of the period 39 seconds apart, late in the frame, to close the gap once again. The Rock scored five times in the third. Alex Simmons’ hat trick goal came on a penalty shot when three Lakers took minor penalties at the same time. Hutchison was called for roughing on a crease dive by Carson Moyer and Dylan Hutchison came in to defend him, with Colton Armstrong then mixing it up with Dawick. To a man every player was subdued after the game, but Hutchison did give a small chuckle when asked about his brother coming in to defend him. “I guess he still likes me because he’s still out there trying to protect me,” the goalie smiled, while acknowledging with the sobering thought that “it’s frustrating for everyone when we’re not playing well and tempers tend to boil when that happens, myself included with a penalty near the end. “When we’re playing five on four on the O side it’s not very good for our offence. They’ve been clicking the last while and being really good for us so on the D end we need to bail them out when they have a slow start but unfortunately it was all of us tonight.” The Lakers were handed 11 minor penalties plus a misconduct for Jake Withers. Landon Kells made 44 saves. Simmons, Dawick and Tavares scored three times each for Oakville. Of Note - Attendance was 2,215 - Peterborough had 49 shots on goal while Oakville had 54 - Jake Withers was perfect on faceoffs for the second game in a row, winning all 19. - Peterborough was 1/4 on the power play with one shorthanded goal and Oakville was 3/7 with one penalty shot goal Full Lakers Scoring Thomas Hoggarth 3-0 Ryan Lanchbury 1-2 Holden Cattoni 1-2 Rob Hellyer 0-1 Jake Withers 0-1 Mike Robinson 0-1 Justin Sykes 0-1 DJ Clark 0-1 Colton Armitage 0-1 PHOTOS BY ANNA TAYLOR

The Peterborough Century 21 Lakers didn’t steal a win from the Oakville Rock on Tuesday evening at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre; no, they took it. The Lakers prevailed 10-7 over the Rock in the opening game of their best-of-five semi-final MSL series. The third-place Lakers and second-place Rock ended the regular season separated by only two points as the Lakers finished July on a four-game win streak while Oakville lost five of their last seven after a strong start to the season. This was the first time the Rock had faced Jake Withers on the season, and only the second time for Robert Hope and Thomas Hoggarth. Oakville took the season series 3-0, but those three players made a major difference in Tuesday’s game: Withers won every single faceoff for his first perfect outing of the season, Hope blocked shots from getting to Drew Hutchison, and Hoggarth led the Lakers in scoring with two goals and three assists. It was a slow start to the game, with the teams feeling each other out. Each team only capitalized once in the first – Carson Moyer cut across the top to beat Hutchison and Matt Gilray finished a long transition run by throwing enough fakes to confuse Landon Kells. “We did not start well,” stated defensive coach Bobby Keast after the game. “Our captain (Hope) talks about starting on time; we clearly did not start on time. However, credit to that group, defensively, they got better as the period went along and we started on time for the second and third.” The game went back and forth for the first 15 minutes of period two – three goals came in the first 1:14 as Peterborough built a 4-2 lead on two goals from Mike Robinson and one from Justin Sykes; Oakville’s goal came from Jake Darlison. Josh Dawick got one back for the Rock, and eight minutes later, Alex Simmons tied it 4-4 on a power play. The last five minutes of the period belonged to Peterborough, and they went to intermission with a 7-4 lead. Ryan Lanchbury found a streaking Hoggarth, and although Hoggarth’s shot was stopped by Kells, Sykes cashed in the rebound. Rob Hellyer followed that up with a sidearm from the outside, and Hoggarth caught Kells napping on a Colton Armitage rebound. “As soon as we started moving the ball and the defence settled in, we played our game and that’s what we came here to do,” said Hoggarth. With the game tied again six minutes into the third, Colton Armstrong found Brad McCulley to finish off a transition run to put the Lakers up 8-7. Gilray then found himself back up in the offensive zone, spun off a defender and crashed the crease for a goal. Lanchbury found Hoggarth on the doorstep to put the Lakers in double digits with 10 goals. Drew Hutchison made 44 saves, from every angle. He squared himself up, threw out the leg for several kick saves, and smothered the ball when necessary to prevent valuable rebounds. “That’s nothing new for him this year,” said Keast. “He’s really elevated his game and has really focused on doing the best job he can each and every game. Not that it’s easy to play defense, but defensively, you can take some chances knowing that the guy behind you is going to stop the ball.” Alex Simmons led Oakville with a pair of goals and four assists. Kells made 46 saves. Game 2 is on the Lakers’ regular Thursday night at the Memorial Centre, August 6, at 8 p.m. Single-game tickets go on sale this morning (August 5) at 10 a.m. via Ticketmaster or by phoning or visiting the Doane Grant Thornton Box Office at the PMC. Game 3 is back in Oakville on Saturday at 7 p.m., and if necessary, Game 4 will be on Tuesday, August 11 at the PMC. Of Note - Peterborough had 53 shots on goal while Oakville had 54. - Jake Withers won all 20 faceoffs. - Peterborough was 0/2 on the power play and Oakville 1/4. - The Rock’s lineup featured two sons of former Lakers: Tye Steenhuis, son of Mark, was a regular in the lineup this season, and Justin Tavares, son of John, played as a call-up since his Jr. A Oakville Buzz were recently eliminated from the OJLL playoffs. - A small but passionate group of fans made the trip to the TRAC and made themselves heard throughout the rink and on the FloSports broadcast all game long. Full Lakers Scoring Thomas Hoggarth 2-3 Justin Sykes 2-1 Mike Robinson 2-0 Matt Gilray 2-0 Rob Hellyer 1-3 Brad McCulley 1-2 Ryan Lanchbury 0-3 Jake Withers 0-1 Colton Armstrong 0-1 Dylan Hutchison 0-1 PHOTOS BY RYAN MCCULLOUGH/OAKVILLE ROCK AND ANNA TAYLOR/PETERBOROUGH LAKERS

Photos from our annual Fan Appreciation Night, July 30, 2026 Photos by David Pickering & Anna Taylor

The playoffs are here! The Peterborough Century 21 Lakers will play the Oakville Rock in the opening round in a best-of-five series. The MSL Finals remain a best-of-seven series. Game 1 - Tuesday, August 4th @ Oakville - 7:30 p.m. Game 2 - Thursday, August 6th @ Peterborough - 8 p.m. Game 3 - Saturday, August 8th @ Oakville - 7 p.m. Game 4 - Tuesday, August 11th @ Peterborough - 8 p.m. Game 5 - Wednesday, August 12th @ Oakville - 7:30 p.m. NEW THIS SEASON - Pay as You Play Packages The Peterborough Century 21 Lakers are getting ready for the playoffs. With Ticketmaster, we will be using Pay As You Play, a new ticket pricing structure for the playoff season. With Pay As You Play, you secure the same seats for the entirety of the playoff season, and your credit card is charged the per game fee once each home playoff game is confirmed (see fees below). Your credit card is not charged if the game does not take place. The deadline to opt-in to the pay to play offer is AUGUST 4 at 9:00 a.m. Payments will be processed on July 31 for those who opt-in before that date, and immediately for those who opt-in on or after July 31. This offer is open to both current season ticket holders and non-season ticket holders. Opt-in to Pay as You Play here: https://am.ticketmaster.com/peterboroughlakers/buy If you have any questions, please reach out to the Doane Grant Thornton Box Office. Please note the box office is closed Saturday, Sunday and Monday for the Civic Holiday. *Single-game tickets will go on sale Wednesday, August 5th at 10 a.m.* Home games will be broadcast locally on YourTV with Pete Dalliday and Scott Arnold. FloSports will stream both home and away games (with subscription).

The Peterborough Century 21 Lakers put on a show for the fans on Fan Appreciation Night, beating the Owen Sound North Stars 14-2 in front of 2,887 Memorial Centre patrons. It was the Lakers final regular season game. They head into the playoffs in third place with an 11-7-0 record, and on a four-game win streak. They’ll meet the second-place Oakville Rock, losers to Brooklin on Wednesday 14-1. Oakville finished with a 12-6-0 record. “I still think we have more,” expressed captain Robert Hope. “We’re playing better in our last four games. There are a couple mistakes that we can clean up but it’s good to see that we are moving in the right direction. We’ve had to be in playoff mode. It’s been a long time [since we’ve played late in July] and we weren’t in the playoffs yet. We let a couple slip earlier in the year – we just didn’t play that great and the league’s a lot better.” Owen Sound (1-16-0) has one more game before their season ends; they host Cobourg on Saturday. Thursday, they had at least 10 call-ups on their roster including both goaltenders and Adam Churchill and Reagan Martinell from the Ennismore James Gang. Frank Coyle opened the scoring, sneaking in alone and faking far side before shooting. Owen Sound replied with their only goal of the period, scored by Churchill. Matt Gilray found himself in front of the net and stretched far side to make it 2-1. Ryan Lanchbury came out of a swarm of players and put in a sneaky underhand roll for Peterborough’s third. Mike Robinson scored twice in 32 seconds for goals four and five: his first as he came in from the side, and the second was a crease dive off a Brad McCulley pass. McCulley then followed that up with a rocket from the outside before Deacan Knott made the full-floor pass up to Lanchbury for his second of the game and a 7-1 lead. All of this occurred before the game was 10 minutes and three seconds old. “It’s tough,” said McCulley. “They’ve had a tough season getting some guys to show and the ones who did show worked really hard. It’s nice that right now we’re kind of finding our stride. It was good for us. You don’t take one off a week before playoffs.” In the second, Rob McGrayne scored for Owen Sound early, but the Lakers dominated the second half of the period with goals from Lanchbury, McCulley and Jr. A call-up Nate Sage. Peterborough outscored Owen Sound 4-0 in the third period. McCulley got the hat trick on an underhanded power play marker, Lanchbury scored his fourth, and DJ Clark (shorthanded) and Thomas Hoggarth added singles. Deacan Knott made 38 saves. It was the largest crowd of the season, in part due to the annual pilgrimage of Ennismore’s Camp Moshava to the arena. The campers and counsellors brought untold amounts of energy to the game. “It’s awesome. They never stop going, up there,” said McCulley, who joked that he got confused when the campers started the wave. “They actually had a countdown that kinda screwed me up, I thought the period was ending. It looks like they’re having a blast.” “It was good energy,” enthused Hope. “It’s nice whenever you get the chance to play in front of a rowdy crowd especially at home. They’ve been coming for years and people look forward to it. Away teams, guys that haven’t played here before, they’re excited for it.” The Lakers travel to Oakville on Tuesday, August 4 for Game 1 of their best-of-five series. Game 2 is at the Memorial Centre on Thursday, August 6 with Game 3 back in Oakville on Saturday, August 8. If necessary, Game 4 will be Tuesday, August 11 in Peterborough and Game 5 Wednesday, August 12 in Oakville. Away games can be streamed on FloSports.com with a subscription, and home games can be seen both on FloSports as well as on YourTV. PLAYOFF TICKET INFORMATION “Pay as You Play” ticket packages are now on sale at https://am.ticketmaster.com/peterboroughlakers/buy . Current season ticket holders must opt-in to Pay as You Play by August 4 at 9 a.m. to have their preferred seats held for each round. With Pay as You Play, your credit card is only charged when games become necessary. The offer is open to non-season ticket holders as well. If you have any questions, please reach out to the Doane Grant Thornton Box Office. Please note the box office is closed Saturday, Sunday and Monday for the Civic Holiday. Single-game tickets go on sale August 5 at 10 a.m. Of Note - Peterborough had 49 shots on goal while Owen Sound had 40 - Jake Withers was 13/14 on faceoffs; the Lakers chose to rest him for the third period. Frank Coyle was 1/4 and Matt Gilray 0/1. The North Stars won 5 of 19. - Peterborough was 1/4 on the power play with one shorthanded goal, and Owen Sound was 0/2. - The Lakers honoured the late Gerry Armstrong with a moment of silence before the game. Armstrong passed away this week at 93. He worked as a Memorial Centre usher for nearly 40 years! - Ted Higgins is raising money once again for the Parkinson Canada Superwalk, and on Thursday, the Lakers made a $2000 donation to his campaign. You can donate by clicking here . Full Lakers Scoring Ryan Lanchbury 4-3 Brad McCulley 3-3 Mike Robinson 2-0 Thomas Hoggarth 1-5 Nate Sage 1-3 Daniel Clark 1-2 Matt Gilray 1-1 Frank Coyle 1-0 Justin Sykes 0-2 Deacan Knott 0-2 Jake Withers 0-1 Jordan Stouros 0-1 Colton Armstrong 0-1 PHOTOS BY DAVID PICKERING @PICKS_PICS

Tuesday night, the Peterborough Century 21 Lakers (10-7-0) became the only team to beat the Six Nations Chiefs (16-2-0) on the floor during the 2026 MSL regular season with a 7-6 overtime win at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena. Ryan Lanchbury fired in the OT winner, his second goal of the game, 3:17 into the extra frame. The Lakers led most of the game, never letting the Chiefs get ahead although they did manage a tie in the third period. It was the Lakers’ third win in a row. “It was a full 60, back and forth but I think we came in with a little extra jump tonight. It’s nice playing from ahead,” said Lanchbury. “Little bit of luck there – tried to look away and maybe catch him off guard and it worked.” Late last week, the previously undefeated Chiefs were handed a loss by the Ontario Lacrosse Association after they deemed Tyson Bell ineligible to play during the Chiefs’ visit to Oakville on July 20, a 10-4 win. Though Bell left the game in the first period after being informed of the suspension, stemming from their July 15 game, the Chiefs were stripped of the W. It remains, though, that the Lakers are the only team to actually beat the Chiefs. “It took the whole team,” said goaltender Drew Hutchison, who turned in another stellar performance. “The offence played great, they capitalized when they could and had a lot of good chances that their goalie was stopping. Gotta give them credit, they’re a good team and I’m hopeful we see them in the playoffs.” By virtue of the win, the Lakers reach 20 points on the season and clinch third place in the regular season standings. Cobourg and Brooklin could also finish with 20 points, but the Lakers hold the tiebreaker over both teams. Peterborough will play Oakville in the best-of-five first round playoff series; game dates are TBD. Justin Sykes got the Lakers on the board with an outside rip 8:01 into the game. Colton Armstrong made it 2-0 after picking off a pass and scoring on the fast break while the Lakers were shorthanded. According to play-by-play man Mark Pare, It was the first time all season the Chiefs had been held scoreless in a period on their home floor. It was a playoff atmosphere with the Lakers executing the game plan flawlessly, with Hutchison leading the way. “He was unbelievable. I don’t know how many saves he made but it was a lot, and a lot of really good quality chances, not just quantity. He was incredible tonight, probably the best player on the floor,” praised Lanchbury. Lanchbury put Peterborough up 3-0 in the second with another outside rip to open the second. Lyle Thompson replied for the Chiefs, finding an impossible angle nearly even with goal line extended. Thomas Hoggarth then made a great pass to a cutting Mike Robinson on the power play, which Thompson equaled again before Josh Byrne got the Chiefs back within a goal. Justin Sykes capped the period by redirecting Lanchbury’s pass past Doug Jamieson for a 5-3 lead. There is one more home game before the playoffs begin; Owen Sound returns to the PMC on Thursday as the Lakers welcome fans to Fan Appreciation Night, with plenty of giveaways and a post-game autograph session. “Best fans in the league. Love playing in front of them. There is no better place to play, so we’re all really excited,” stated Lanchbury. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster online or at the box office. Of Note - Shots were not kept at the ILA, but Drew Hutchison stopped a LOT of rubber and OFTEN. - Jake Withers was 7/11 on faceoffs while Frank Coyle was 1/5. The Chiefs won 8/16 faceoffs. - Peterborough was 1/4 on the power play with one shorthanded goal, and Six Nations was 0/4. - Deacan Knott served the fourth game of his four-game suspension from July 16, and Dustyn Birkhof served the second of his two-game ban for a fight last Thursday against Cobourg. - This was the only MSL game of the season to require overtime. Full Lakers Scoring Ryan Lanchbury 2-1 Mike Robinson 2-0 Justin Sykes 2-0 Colton Armstrong 1-0 Thomas Hoggarth 0-3 Brad McCulley 0-2 Holden Cattoni 0-2 Robert Hope 0-1 Drew Hutchison 0-1 PHOTOS BY ANNA TAYLOR

Make it back-to-back wins for the Peterborough Century 21 Lakers. A day after beating Cobourg 8-4, the Lakers took their show on the road and beat the Excelsiors 10-6 at Memorial Arena in Brampton. The Lakers fell behind 4-1 but a strong seven-goal second period showcased both their talent and focus. Thomas Hoggarth, Braedon Saris and Jr. A call-up Nate Sage led the charge with two goals each. Singles went to Holden Cattoni, Matt Gilray, Colton Armstrong and Ryan Lanchbury. Nick Rose got the win in goal, holding Brampton scoreless for the final 23 minutes of the game. Alex Pace made his season debut on defence after rehabbing an ankle injury suffered late in the NLL season. There are two games remaining in the regular season including Tuesday at Six Nations and Fan Appreciation Night on Thursday vs. Owen Sound. Currently the Lakers sit in third place in the MSL standings, ahead of Cobourg and Brooklin. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster online or at the box office. Post-Game Quotes “You have to score when you have power play chances especially this time of year. It’s a little bit tough because it’s a small rink here so it plays a little bit differently.” – Holden Cattoni on the power play “It’s one of those things where everyone is dealing with it so you just try to almost not think about it or not complain about it because everyone’s dealing with it, just focus on the game and try to get through it that way.” – Liam Patten on playing in a small, hot arena “Our transition game really stepped up. We ended up getting four if not five transition goals in particular in the second frame there. That was a big part of our turnaround. Rosey made some big saves when he needed to, it was a close game there for a big and he dug in as well and made some hard stop.” – Tracey Kelusky on the game “Just some poise on the back end. We know what Alex brings. He brings a ton of experience and is just a calming presence on the back end. He’ll be the first to admit that his lungs probably weren’t where they needed to be, when you take the summer off and jump in later, it’s harder, it’s just physically demanding. I thought he looked good, didn’t miss a beat.” – TK on Alex Pace’s return “It’s about us. Our message has always been about us and that’s what coach Hasen talks about is we control what we can control. Truth be told, if we have if everyone committed to doing the things we want on both sides of the ball and get good goaltending, we’ll be hard to beat.” – TK on Tuesday’s game in Six Nations Of Note - The Lakers went 6/19 on faceoffs while the Excelsiors were 13/19. - Peterborough was 2/3 on the power play and Brampton was ½ on the power play. Full Lakers Scoring Thomas Hoggarth 2-1 Nate Sage 2-0 Braedon Saris 2-0 Ryan Lanchbury 1-2 Holden Cattoni 1-3 Colton Armstrong 1-0 Matt Gilray 1-0 Mike Robinson 0-2 Robert Hope 0-1 Nick Rose 0-1 Liam Patten 0-1 Frank Coyle 0-1 PHOTOS BY ANNA TAYLOR