By Allan Bradbury
Staff Writer
It was nearly a repeat of game one as the Kam River Fighting Walleye tied the game with less than 90 seconds on the clock, but Fort Frances Lakers Captain Pierce Gouin kept the game out of overtime as the clock wound down.
Unlike the night before, the Walleye drew first blood when Cole Piccinin beat Brady Cates at the three-minute mark. Gunnar Simon answered back for the Lakers, knotting it at a goal apiece near the halfway mark of the first frame.
Ronnie Bender put the Lakers ahead with a feed from Simon about three minutes later, but with Nolan Barker in the box for slashing the Walleye, the game was tied before the end of the opening period.
After the game, Simon said he was happy to help keep team spirits high. “Our message before the game was to come out with energy and be positive on the bench,” he said. “Even when things aren’t going our way, we can’t get low, so I was happy to get the first one and kind of give us a little momentum.”
The second period was a back-and-forth affair with the teams trading shots on goal. The Lakers put 12 shots on Walleye goalie Sam Keene, and while Brady Cates stopped all 12 put his way.
The Lakers came out firing in the third period, as Tie Schumacher backhanded the puck past Keene from below the red line.
Unfortunately, the Walleye answered back within 20 seconds to tie the game back up.
Later in the third, with the home team on a five-on-three power play, Fort Frances local Teagan Wrolstad put the Lakers up once again when he beat Keene from the back door on a feed from Jace Van Eps.
In a bad flashback from game one, the Lakers took their own penalty a few minutes later, which they managed to kill off, but overall, they struggled to clear the defensive zone once again.
With the Walleye net empty with under two minutes remaining, Carter Poddubny beat Cates from the top of the faceoff circle.
The game once again appeared bound for overtime. The Lakers cleared the zone with a long shot down the ice, and Daniel Tokariwski forced a turnover, taking the puck to the blue line at the middle of the offensive zone. Tokariwski faked a shot and passed to Gouin, who was down low at the hashmarks and rifled it short side on Keene with just seven seconds on the clock.
Cates finished the game with 34 saves on 38 shots.
Gouin praised the team for not getting down despite the late tying goal.
“I think there’s always ups and downs but being able to stay up when we get scored on, or if we make a bad play, I think that’s something that’s really gonna help us in the long run,” he said.
After the game, Head Coach and GM Luke Judson said he was pleased overall with the wins in the first two games.
“We haven’t quite been at our best in these two games, but to get away with it and be up two- nothing, that’s where we want to be,” he said.
“That’s the playoffs, a bounce here and a bounce there. Ultimately, there were some positives to take from it. We stuck together on the bench, there’s good attitudes. I thought our enthusiasm and energy were there. We just got to clean up some details and some structure.”
The Lakers will be in tough as they head to Oliver Paipoonge on Tuesday and Wednesday night.
“Kam River is a tough place to play,” Judson said. “I thought they played two good games here. They’re very structured, and at home it’s gonna be a good test for us.”
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Eastern time, both nights.
Meanwhile, in Dryden, the Ice Dogs have blown home ice advantage, losing two straight to the Thunder Bay North Stars, 1-0 Friday night and 4-3 Saturday. That series shifts to Thunder Bay, where the North Stars will look to earn a sweep at home Monday and Tuesday, starting at 7 p.m.
