The ceremonial faceoff featured members of the 1973 Mann Cup Champion Lakers that recognize the 50th anniversary of their title win.
The visitors quickly quieted the PMC as one of the league’s top scorers Lyle Thompson, drew first blood seven seconds in for a 1-0 lead. The league leader in goals Holden Cattoni was not to be outdone as he got Peterborough on the board just over five-and-a-half minutes later. Sam LeClair pulled Six Nations ahead on the powerplay and kept that 2-1 lead into the second period.
Six Nations kept putting on the pressure, beating Lakers goalie Landon Kells twice to extend their lead 4-1. Peterborough was able to capitalize on their special teams with a pair of power play goals. That was part of a four-goal run to end the period and get their first lead of the game, 5-4.
The third period was a seesaw battle between both teams as neither team was able to score consecutive goals. The edge went to Six Nations as Thompson scored two goals in the frame for a hat trick. The game was tied at eight and overtime was needed to settle things.
Thompson, just as he scored first in the first and third period comes up big again for Six Nations as he was able to throw a bouncing shot past Kells for the 9-8 win and a first-place clinch.
Things got physical with the teams after the goal as they were pushing and shoving each other for several minutes. The scuffle occurred after Six Nation’s Eric Fannell shoved Robert Hope aside with his forearm to celebrate the goal with his teammates and the latter confronted the Chief immediately after the contact.
Both teams eventually stopped and went through the handshake line.
The win puts Six Nations six points ahead of the Lakers while owning the tiebreaker to seal up first place for the regular season. The Lakers have three games left including back-to-back games against the third-place Brooklin L.C. who are trying to overtake Peterborough, trailing four points.
The Lakers play the Cobourg Kodiaks this Sunday on the road for their next game scheduled for 6 p.m.
