WHITBY WARRIORS DEFEND NEW LOOK HOME FLOOR AGAINST PETERBOROUGH

Lucas Johnston and the Whitby Warriors defence blanked the Peterborough Jr Lakers in the third period to defend home floor (PHOTO: OJLL / R MacAloney)

On a new turfed surface and air-conditioned atmosphere inside Iroquois Park Sports Centre Tuesday night, the Whitby Warriors and Peterborough Lakers clashed in both their opening games of the 2025 OJLL season. The game was fast paced and defence reigned with big hits and relatively low scoring. That is, until the third period when the Warriors scored five unanswered goals to win 10-5.

That did not look to be the case with three goals in a 2:21 span – one for Whitby veteran Jack Oldman and a pair for Peterborough from former Warrior Carson Christy and 2023 first round draft pick Mason Cree. AP Hayden Addison added his first OJLL goal to stretch the lead, but a pair from Oldman on the power play, and captain Lucas Littlejohn in the final minute tied the game at three.

After the teams went back and forth twice in the second, capped by Ty Jesso’s power play marker (his first in Whitby), to sit deadlocked at five, the Warriors took off in the third. Littlejohn sandwiched a pair of goals around Oldman’s hat trick marker off the faceoff for three goals in 33 seconds. Another from Treysen Stewart less than two minutes after Peterborough called timeout stretched the lead further and Littlejohn later capped an eventual 10-5 Whitby win on home floor.

All but four Whitby runners registered points. Captain Lucas Littlejohn led them all with eight (4/4). Jack Oldman added his first OJLL hat trick (3/1) and Treysen Stewart also had four points (1/3), matching his career-high set multiple times. Lucas Johnston kicked off his first season in Whitby by stopping 45 of 50 Peterborough shots.

Mason Cree was the only Lakers player to score multiple goals (2). APs Hayden Addison and Nicholas Fournier both scored their first OJLL goals. Carson Christy (1/1) scored Peterborough’s other goal. Curtis Ward led the Lakers with three points (3 assists). Gavin Williamson allowed 10 goals off 61 shots in his first OJLL start.  

The game aired live on the OJLL YouTube channel, and is available as on On Demand archive.