Sports

A second-straight overtime game didn’t end up in quite the same elation for the Fort Frances Lakers.
In their first game since eliminating the K&A Wolverines 3-2 in overtime in Game 7 of their first-round series on Sunday, the Lakers were on the losing end last night—falling 4-3 to the host Dryden Ice Dogs in the opener of their semi-final series.

The Fort Frances Lakers found that being lousy visitors didn’t equate to being great hosts in their 4-3 first-round playoff series win over the K&A Wolverines.

A paperwork mix-up left the Fort Frances Thunderhawks out of their quest for the Allan Cup, but the team is at odds with Hockey Northwestern Ontario as to which side is responsible for the mistake.
The T’hawks were set to appear in the HNO final Sunday afternoon against the host Kenora Thistles after recording a pair of ties during round-robin play.

Rainy River Community College Voyageurs head coach Evan Amdahl knew his team was in tough in its attempt to win a third-straight American Collegiate Hockey Association Div. II championship.
Before enduring an 8-1 thumping at the hands of Boston’s Northeastern University, the Voyageurs had to endure a major speed bump in the semi-finals against St. Scholastica.

The drought is finally over!
For the first time since the 1992-93 season, a contingent of local bowlers brought home the banner from the annual aggregate bowling tournament that pits Fort Frances against Atikokan, Dryden, and Kenora.

Muskie centre Matt DePiero is used to the OFSAA routine.
One of 11 Grade 12 players on this year’s hockey squad, DePiero said while previous journeys to the all-Ontarios have been a learning experience, he also felt some of those teams underachieved.

Tirzah Keffer and the rest of her Muskie girls’ rink went into the NWOSSAA curling playdowns with a catchy slogan.
“We had a motto our coach Dave [Bondett] put in our head: ‘Refuse to lose,’” enthused Keffer.
“It rhymes, too, so it’s good.”

Bruce M. McLeod’s league just keeps getting more and more eyeballs upon it.
After his Western Collegiate Hockey Association held steady at 10 teams (although attendance has grown and is on pace to surpass the 1.5 million mark for the seventh-straight season), the Fort Frances native has given the stamp of approval to two new schools for the 2010-11 season.

The Northwestern Ontario PeeWee all-stars faced a stiff test against royalty in Thunder Bay over the weekend, but came through with a coup when it counted.
The squad, which included locals Tyler VanUden, Jared Bethune, Brandon Bodnar, Carter Brown, and Claire Sandelovich, crowned the Thunder Bay Kings 5-4 in overtime at the PeeWee ‘AAA’ branch championships over the weekend.

The Fort Frances Thunderhawks saw their Allan Cup dreams dashed in Kenora over the weekend, but not in an expected way.
The Thunderhawks were getting ready to play in yesterday afternoon’s final against the host Thistles when the Thunder Bay Twins protested Fort Frances’ Jamie Davis was an illegal player.