Lakers still looking to turn around slow start

The building process for the Fort Frances Lakers promised to be a gradual one, with patience required from its fan base.
That patience had best be in bountiful supply because the task has hit a roadblock of late.

The last-place Lakers (5-14-3) suffered three more defeats this past week to extend their winless skid to seven games—getting outscored 47-14 over that span.
Heading into last night’s game here against the Wisconsin Mustangs, the Lakers were coming off an 11-2 blowout at the hands of the first-place Fort William North Stars (19-1) on Saturday in Thunder Bay to close out a two-game set.
The game started innocently enough when Fort William’s Ryan Magill’s game-opening marker at 5:57 of the first was followed by Mike Jourdain’s fifth goal of the year for Fort Frances at 10:58.
Olivier Morin (power play) at 12:22 and Travis Savard at 18:49 made it 3-1 after the first, and started what was a run of five-consecutive goals by the host Stars.
Riley Marsh made it a three-goal cushion at 4:22 of the second before Trevor Gamache and Dan Usiski (power play) scored 1:33 apart just past the midway point of the period to up the lead to 6-1.
Henry Gutierrez’s man-advantage tally for his fifth of the campaign temporarily stopped the bleeding with 26 seconds left in the second.
But the Stars unleashed their fury in the third, scoring five unanswered goals.
Stephan Gunner and Savard, with his second of the night, made it 8-2 before Magill sandwiched a pair of goals around Adam Restoule’s single to complete the hat trick.
Fort William outshot Fort Frances 52-17, with Guillaume Piche making 15 saves to raise his season record to a league-best 13-1.
Jameson Shortreed (3-10-1-1) took the loss with 26 saves on 31 shots in two periods of work.
T.J. Pocock turned aside 15 of 21 shots in relief.
Shortreed faced even more frozen rubber in the opener Friday night as Fort William sent a 60-shot barrage his way compared to only 23 for the Lakers.
But even a mammoth 55-save effort by Shortreed wasn’t enough to carry Fort Frances in a 5-3 loss.
Tyler Stevenson gave the Lakers a rare lead at 3:53 of the first, but Usiski’s man-advantage goal tied it at 10:23.
In the second, Devlin native Jordan Davis put Fort William in front at 1:30 on another power play, but Stevenson’s second of the contest and sixth of the year at 14:03 once again knotted the affair.
But the Stars connected for the final three markers of the game, with Gamache scoring at 18:17 to cap a 3-for-7 night with the man advantage for Fort William, then tallied again at 14:33 of the third.
Brennan Wright added a backbreaker 31 seconds later before Colton Kennedy rounded out the Fort Frances scoring with his team-high 14th of the season.
Jamie Brattengeier made 20 saves between the pipes to improve to 6-0 for the year for Fort William, which maintained its No. 18 rank in the Canadian Junior Hockey League national top 20 rankings on Monday.
The Lakers began their three-game road trip with a 7-1 whipping by the second-place Ice Dogs (16-3-2) last Wednesday in Dryden.
Jon Mitchell collected a pair of goals for Dryden while Tanner Harms, Chad Liley, Spencer Gyori, Kyle Heck, and B.J. McClellan added singles.
Blake Boaz (power play) netted in his fifth of the year for Fort Frances’ lone goal.
Peter Emery made 26 stops to earn the win between the pipes while Shortreed had 46 saves in a losing cause.
The Lakers’ next game is tomorrow night in Thunder Bay against the fourth-place K&A Wolverines (7-15-4).
Their next home game isn’t until Dec. 12 when those same Wolverines visit the Ice For Kids Arena.