Poised and prepared, the Junior A boys from the Innisfil Lakers came ready when the puck finally dropped at the Elvis Stojko Arena in Richmond Hill last Wednesday against the Ontario Lightning Rams for Game 4 of the Greater Metro Hockey League South Division quarter-final series.

The game was originally scheduled last Tuesday (March 3) for 8:30 p.m., but was then changed into a matinee affair at 1:30 p.m. for the same day. The Lakers sat around for three hours (between 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.), before packing up their equipment. The referees and linemen hadn’t been scheduled for the game and it was switched to Wednesday for 1:30 p.m. The league and the GMHL Referee Association were able to get two linemen and two refs, in order for things not to get out of hand, as last Sunday’s Game 3 illustrated. It was an 11-2 Innisfil win, as with many penalties, the Lakers capitalized on six opportunities.

But, a lot of class was shown on both sides after the Lakers defeated the Rams, in a gritty 7-5 finale with only 10 penalties given out the whole game. The series went in favour of the Lakers, three games to one in the best-of-five series.

“The players didn’t get out of hand the entire game,” stated Shane Hicke, the Lakers head coach. “There was a lot of class shown at the end with an emotional hand shake between the teams. It was nice to see.”

The game started with forward Caleb Lister scoring a power-play marker approximately 12 minutes into the first period. Lister struck again 1:48 later on a pass from forward Tyler Roache.

The Rams battled back, as forward Val Borschevsky made it a one-goal game with 4:10 left in the first frame.

Early in the second, forward Adam Avison tied it up for the Rams, before Innisfil got their offence rolling, as they lit the lamp three consecutive times. Forwards Max Douglas and Alaiksei Kulikouskiy first beat Ontario Lightning goalie Mark Wardell, before defencemen Jamie Wicks (second goal of the playoffs) and Dustin Timm teamed up for the third Lakers’ marker of the period.

Before the end of the period, Rams forward Andrew Wills beat Innisfil goaltender Geoffrey Sadjadi. With a 1:48 left, forward Jonathan Dew came back to give the Lakers a 6-3 lead heading into the final frame.

Fighting for their playoff lives, the Rams meant business in the third, with Avison scoring a power-play goal with 5:36 left in possibly their season. Forward Frank Spano then scored at even strength with 2:24 remaining to make it a one-goal contest down the stretch. But, with just over a minute left, forward Connor Hendry capitalized for the Lakers, to regain their two-goal advantage. With the Rams net empty, Innisfil probably could have scores some more goals, but opted to ice the puck, as the clock ran down to end the game and the series.

Though the Lakers outscored the Rams, 26-13, if you would subtract the 11-2 (Game 3) affair, the rest of the series went 15-13 in favour of Innisfil. The Lakers fortunately had balanced scoring, with 11 different goal scorers out of the 26 markers in the series.

“Guys are scoring as a team and they realized what was a stake and have really picked it up,” said Hicke, whose team lost Game 3 in Richmond Hill Feb. 28, 4-3, to the heavily under-.500 Rams (13-30 during regular season play).

Dew is currently leading the Lakers in playoff points with 10 and goals with six (also adding four assists).

“He can play with anybody,” Hicke said. “What he loves the most is playoff hockey and he proved that against the Rams.”

The first-place Lakers (36-6-1, who were awarded a bye for the second-round) will now await the winner of the GMHL South Division semifinal matchup between the third-place Deseronto Storm (29-11-3) and second-place Bradford Rattlers (34-6-3), which is currently being led by Deseronto, two games to one.

Regardless of who their opponent is, the South Division finals will begin Friday at the Innisfil Recreation Complex in Braclay, starting at 7:30 p.m. Game 2 will depend on which team they play. It will be a best-of-seven series, as opposed to the best-of-five format in the first two rounds.

In the North Division, the first-place South Muskoka Shield (38-4-1) beat the third-place Nipissing Alouettes (29-13-1), three games to none in their semifinal series. New to this year’s playoffs, the first-place teams in each division were given the opportunity to choose whether they wanted to have a bye for the second-round or keep playing. Innisfil decided a bye would suit their system, while the Shield didn’t want the rest to slow them down.

Injury report: Defenceman Shawn Sullivan is still out of town with family issues while forwards D.J. Tahbazian and Payden Davidge each missed Wednesday’s Game 4 win against the Rams because the Innisfil natives were unable to miss two-straight school days. Both forwards will be back for the South Division finals (slated for March 12 to 23).