It was a two-win weekend for the Fort Frances Lakers over the Kam River Fighting Walleye as the Lakers swept a two game home-and-home series between the two.
While Kam River Forward Jett Mintenko scored a hattrick it wasn’t enough for the Walleye to overcome the Lakers scoring efforts.
Evan Kabel tied the game at 1-1 in the first period though Kam River scored again shortly after to take a 2-1 lead after the first but it was a four-goal second period that keyed the Lakers to victory.
Whittaker Heart tied up the game seven minutes into the second frame, followed by goals from Brady Krentz, Ian Snooks and a second by Krentz.
Goalie Nolan Koethler stopped 38 of 42 shots for the Lakers on Friday night for the win.
On the home leg for the Lakers the team honoured the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation with an orange t-shirt giveaway in conjunction with Weechi-it-te-Win Family Services as well as a ceremonial faceoff.
The Lakers came out to a quick start in the first period drawing an early power play but failing to capitalize on their first opportunity. THe first period would pass without a goal by either team but the Lakers led the shots 12-9.
Kam River looked to have the momentum early in the second, when Nickolas Fagnilli scored just thirty two seconds into the period but it was the Lakers’ second powerplay opportunity that got the Lakers on the board when Krentz blasted one past Travis VanderZwaag in the Walleye net.
The Lakers took the lead when Carter Deschamps potted the second power play goal of the game, and Wood would score on a beautiful between the legs feed to take the Lakers up 3-1 late in the second.
There was a brief delay when forward Noah McPherson was checked into the glass at the Kam River end with less than 90 seconds remaining and the glass fell out of its framing but didn’t break. Sports Centre staff made quick work of getting the glass back in place and the second period concluded.
Despite three penalties in the third period the Lakers came out on top with Wood wrapping up a three-point night with a goal with four minutes remaining in the final frame.
Koethler saved 28 of 29 shots in the back half of the home and home for the win.
Kam River finished at the top of the league standings last season, eventually losing to the Sioux Lookout Bombers. The Lakers went 0-6 against the Walleye in the 2023-24 season.
After the game head coach Tyler Miller praised the team and emphasized that they need to keep up the work they’ve been doing over the last few weeks.
“We’ve had a good two weeks of practice,” Miller said. “We gotta keep working hard. This is the start of the season so we just gotta keep climbing that mountain, committed to our system, committed to our conditioning, and just having a good time with the guys is really changing that (dressing) room.”
Going three for four on the powerplay keyed the Lakers to the win and Miller attributed that success to the work assistant coach Luke Judson does with the special teams as well as the work the other coaches do.
“We work hard at it,” Miller said. “You know our coaching staff is phenomenal, Luke (Judson) takes care of our power play and penalty kill, Cody takes care of our defense and I’m the voice in the room and we all work great together so everything’s great.”
The Lakers sit in the middle of the stands with three wins, a loss, and a tie. This weekend they head to Ironwood, Michigan for the first time to face the newly transplanted Lumberjacks for a two game series. The Lakers play just three home games in October, the next one being against the Dryden Ice Dogs on Oct. 12. For a complete schedule check out the Fort Frances Lakers Facebook page or sijhlhockey.com
