With a weekend sweep of the Ironwood Lumberjacks, the Fort Frances Lakers clinched the first overall spot going into the SIJHL playoffs and earned a bye through the first round.
Friday night’s performance was lackluster by head coach Luke Judson’s standards. Despite the 3-2 win, he knew the team could play better.
“In the grand scheme of things we’re happy to clinch first place, but it’s going to be a short postseason if that’s the effort we bring,” he said.
“I think we’ve made a habit of playing down to our opponents at times. We’ve got a lot more to give. All year we’ve shown up for the perceived ‘big games,’ tonight we should have had that feeling too with the opportunity to clinch first. Ultimately, we got the job done but it could have been a very different story very easily.”
From left: Daniel Tokariwski, Justin Gelderland, Pierce Gouin, assistant coach Foster Couvier, Nick Fagnilli, and Nolan Barker were all presented with a framed photo from their time as a Laker before Friday night’s regular season finale.
The Lakers opened the scoring early in the first with Nick Fagnilli scoring his 20th goal of the year and took a two-goal lead when Tie Schumacher scored a shorthanded goal in the second.
The Lakers looked to be on the ropes late in the second as Ironwood broke through when Jack Hanna carried the puck to the net off a faceoff in the Lakers’ end and poked it past Nolan Koethler.
The Lumberjacks looked to have another before the end of the period but the goal was disallowed.
Lakers captain Pierce Gouin put Fort Frances up by two with a goal in the third period.
Despite a flurry of activity, Ironwood was only able to muster one goal before the end of regulation, giving the Lakers the win and the regular season title.
The Lakers fended off one five-on-three opportunity for the Lumberjacks in the third period, and gave the Lumberjacks a second goal on the second.
The first came early in the frame when Carter Peters was sent off for slashing, followed by Max Caddo earning a stint in the sin bin after a head contact infraction.
Later in the frame Ronnie Bender was penalized for slashing, followed shortly thereafter by a tripping call against Hills.
Gouin spoke about the importance of icing the game in the third after the game.
“Coach came in after a second period, and he told us we gotta bear down and finish this game off to clinch first,” Gouin said.
“I just got a really good pass from [Cooper Hills] and fortunately, found the back of the net.”
Koethler noted how important it was to earn the week off for the team who was missing bodies due to injury.
“I think it’ll be huge, we’re missing Wyatt Greer and he’s a huge part of our back end and Ty Nessler, he can get back in there and hopefully I can have some time as well and rehab my hip,” Koethler added.
“We have a couple of guys pretty banged up so the break is kinda nice.”
Saturday night, the Lakers looked like a different team, especially as they sported their Hockey Fights Cancer jerseys, sponsored by Safeway.
The Lakers hosted a fundraiser for the Riverside Health Care Lights, Camera, Diagnosis! Campaign, with donations going towards the health provider for every spectator through the doors. The night raised $2,484 towards an MRI machine for La Verendrye General Hospital and new digital radiography (X-ray) machines for La Verendrye and the Rainy River Health Centre.
Prior to the game, the Lakers honoured players who would be graduating from the team as they age out.
Pierce Gouin, Nick Fagnilli, Daniel Tokariwski, Nolan Barker, and Justin Gelderland, who joined the team at the trade deadline, are all moving on from the team at the end of the season.
In play, the game looked a little different than the one played 24 hours prior.
Teagan Wrolstad opened the scoring early and, despite a powerplay goal for the Lumberjacks also early in the frame that came as the result of a scramble in front of the Lakers’ net, the home team dominated the first period, scoring three more before the end of the frame and outshooting Ironwood 17-10.
Nolan Barker would put the Lakers back in front for good with a blast from the point just a few minutes after the Lumberjacks tied the game.
Judd Pesch and Carter Peters rounded out the period’s scoring.
Ronnie Bender added his 13th of the season less than four minutes into the second and Wrolstad would score the last goal with his second of the game.
Following the game, departing player Barker said he was happy with a better effort than the night before.
“It felt good to end the season off on a better game and scoring in my last regular season game is pretty cool,” he said.
“I’m happy we could finish it off in a good way.”
Barker noted the importance of keeping up with fitness as the team enters some time off before the second round of the playoffs.
“I think with this bye we have to be smart, even if some guys go home, we have to keep in shape, skate, work out, and do the things we need to do to come back at the highest level for the second round,” he said.
“The guys who are beat up have the time to go to their physio, go to the chiropractor, get well, rest their bodies. It gives some of the guys who maybe need to go home and see their families time to do that, then come back and get ready to work.”
Following the final regular season contest, Judson was happy to see players were able to redeem themselves.
“We had the opportunity to redeem ourselves,” he said.
“I don’t think anyone left here happy last night even with a win. We knew we had more, they showed up to play, they rebounded well. With it being the 20 year olds’ last regular season game, I think they stepped up in a big way and the rest of the team followed and I think it was a pretty good top to bottom 60-minute effort.”
Brady Cates allowed just the one goal on 37 shots by the Lumberjacks performing up to the expectations he’s set for when he takes to the net for the Lakers.
The rookie goaltender wrapped up the regular season with the best Goals Against Average and the best save percentage in the league over his 26 appearances. Koethler was third in both categories. Judson praised his goaltenders for their performance over the course of the season.
“We’re the only [junior A] team in Canada that has less than 100 goals against us this year. We have two goalies who are in the top two or three of all the stat categories in our league,” Judson said.
“We put a lot on their shoulders and hopefully we don’t need to lean on them as much as we have at times, in the playoffs but ultimately we know they’re guys we can depend on and they’ve been rock solid all year.”
Home ice advantage will play a big role for a Lakers team that has gone 23-1 at home on the season, the lone home loss coming in October against season runners up the Dryden Ice Dogs.
The Lakers will have about a week off from formal practices before preparing for the second round of the playoffs, where they’ll face the lowest seeded team remaining after round one in a best of seven series.
The opening round playoff matchups will see the Ice Dogs against the Red Lake Miners, the Thunder Bay North Stars will take on the Lumberjacks, and the Kam River Fighting Walleye will take on the Sioux Lookout Bombers.
