Only a few weeks ago rumors began to spread around the Impact Locker room that starting left winger Cris Lakes maybe bumped from his top line spot due to a perceived lack of production. At the time the Impact were struggling to find wins and had lost a string of close games, many of which were being lost in shoot outs. Despite having the best first line of forwards in the league, at least on paper, many were attributing the Impacts woes to a lack of goal scoring.



“We couldn’t hit the back of the net to save our lives.” Commented Lakes. “We just got into one of those dry streaks were everything that can go bad was going bad. It was tough. Everyone on that line felt like they were letting the team down. Josef Heiss was playing well, our defense was playing strong, we just couldn’t score.”

News of Lakes possible demotion spread rapidly through the Impacts locker room. Media outlets picked up the story and soon rumors started to pop up concerning possible trades of Cris Lakes. Some reporters fabricated stories saying that Lakes had become a locker room disturbance and the demotion was set in place to control Lakes destructive attitude. Lakes response to the media allegations was a breath of fresh air to Montreal fans.

“I have no intentions of leaving Montreal. I love it here, I love my teammates and im dedicated to winning a championship. I obviously don’t want to be demoted. I’m very disappointed with the way I’ve been playing this season but don’t feel like I should be bumped. I talked to my parents and they told me you can take this on of two ways. I can take it as a negative and bitch and complain or I can look at it as an opportunity and prove my value to the team.”

Since the stream of bad press both Lakes and the Impact have picked up there game. After being blown out 7-2 by the Kelowna Knights that Montreal Impact have put together a 5-1 record of the last six games. In that period of time Montreal has managed to crank out 14 goals. Cris Lakes has also managed to resurrect his season scoring 3 goals and 1 assist in that stretch of games. Lakes appears to have taken the opportunity to heart and is responding to critcs everywhere.



“It’s a good start but we are a long way away from where we need to be as a team. I’m starting to find my game but we need to make sure it translates into the Impact winning games. I think you can tell a lot about a person by the way they respond to adversity. I hope this sends a message to teams around the league and coaches and GMs at the SHL level that this is the kind of player that I am. I wont roll over and die, I won’t quit on my team and I won’t stop trying to improve. I’ll fight back and keep coming pack stronger. I think this team is works the same way. Heiss had a tough couple of games and he bounced back stronger then ever. Our offense struggled and then help bounce back and spur a 5-1 run. I think that makes us a very dangerous hockey team.”

One area where Montreal does still have to improve is in there play against top end opponents. Montreal has struggled when playing teams like Detroit, Prince George, Kelowna and Las Angeles.

“We have to change that. Those are the teams that will stand between us and a championship, so we have to find a way to compete with teams like that. Those are very talented teams but we consider ourselves to be on the same level. We have to walk the walk now. Now that im stepping my game up its time to take it to even another level. I have to be a leader out there as well and try to spark my team.”


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Nice Lakes! Go :impact: !

Nice read keep it up bud!