Major Series Lacrosse game between the Peterborough Century 21 Lakers and the Cobourg Kodiaks at the Peterborough Memorial Centre on July 2, 2026 in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada/David Pickering - Pick’s Pics
Thursday night at the Memorial Centre, the Peterborough Century 21 Lakers showed the Cobourg Kodiaks who the boss is, beating their Highway 28 rivals 11-3.
Cobourg previously beat the Lakers 13-9 on Father’s Day, handing them their first loss in 10 years at the Cobourg Community Centre. The season series is now tied at one game apiece, with the rubber match at the Memorial Centre on July 23. The Lakers (6-5-0) now sit alone in third place with eight games remaining in the regular season – Brooklin and Cobourg are tied for fourth place and just two points behind Peterborough.
Everything was clicking for the Lakers on Thursday, and the team was surprised with the return of defender Johnny Pearson after previously thinking he would miss the season due to work commitments. The power play was over 100% and the team’s transition was instrumental in pushing the ball up the floor.
“We were moving the ball around really well tonight, moving bodies around, so there was a ton of space to shoot and make plays. We needed that big time,” said lefty forward Brad McCulley, who finished with a pair of goals and three assists. “There have been a couple times we’ve shown we can be really good and other times, maybe it’s a different lineup, different commitments for different guys, it’s just not really a good excuse. But for sure that was one we needed to instill some confidence in the guys and of course it’s always easy getting excited to play on Thursday.”
Peterborough led 2-1 after the first on goals from Frank Coyle and McCulley. Coyle’s second goal of the season came as he, Colton Armstrong and Matt Gilray made a break from their own end.
“Errant shot went off the boards. Colton had the ball, passed it over to me, I was dead centre in front of the net from about 30 feet out and didn’t think twice, just shot it. Luckily it squeaked in five-hole,” Coyle described. It was the Jr. A Laker graduate’s first goal in front of the home crowd.
McCulley then kicked off the scoring in the second period, in which the Lakers scored seven goals while holding the Kodiaks scoreless. Four of their goals were scored on the power play, including two on a major penalty to Nathan Pouliot after a check from behind that sent Taite Cattoni to the dressing room early.
“It was nice to see the power play get going because that was not the case against Oakville on Monday,” said McCulley. “You get a guy like Ryan Lanchbury in there and he’s got incredible vision, and Braedon Saris who can shoot, and other guys moving bodies around.”
Each team scored twice in the third period but the Lakers didn’t give up any ground. DJ Clark scored his first of the season shorthanded, and Ryan Lanchbury picked up his second goal and seventh point of the game.
For the second home game in a row, Drew Hutchison was named first star after making 50 saves.
The Lakers are on the road Tuesday to Six Nations before returning home to host Owen Sound next Thursday, July 9.
(Article submitted by: Anna Taylor, Social Media Coordinator with the Century 21 Lakers)
