The Fort Frances Lakers will head into Kam River’s barn tonight for their third game in a best-of-seven semifinal series after taking the first two with tough-fought 2-1 and 5-4 victories at home.
The Lakers are likely facing another close battle against the Fighting Walleye tonight and Wednesday after two single-goal wins that saw them notch both an overtime winner and a nail-biter in the final seven seconds.
The NorWest arena can be a difficult place to play, said Laker power forward Gunnar Simon. “It’s a tough place to play, their rink’s small,” Simon said. “They’re going to have a lot of fans so it’s going to be loud, so we just have to stick to what we do—getting pucks out and take it to them with our feet.”
Head Coach and General Manager Luke Judson said he hopes to work on clearing the defensive zone before the next game Tuesday. “I think our guys are battling hard, the other team is too. Small details are often the difference,” he said.
“Both nights we had a chance to clear the puck and didn’t get it out and it ended up in the back of the net. I think the lesson there is the small things matter, and the more we can correct the small things the better”
The Lakers took the first game of the Salonen Cup semifinals on Good Friday, notching a 2-1 win in overtime on a goal by team season-leading scorer Nick Fagnilli in a back-and-forth affair as the Lakers and the Walleye traded attempts on net. But it was Daniel Tokariwski who put the Lakers out front about nine minutes into the series opener.
The rest of the night saw the Lakers get plenty of chances to widen the gap, however, Keene stood firm, stopping 14 of 15 shots in the first and 11 in the second.
Brady Cates, thrust into the role of sole starter for the Lakers following an injury to tandem partner Nolan Koethler, put on a show at times in the Lakers’ net. He stopped 10 shots in the first frame, eight in the second and looked to be on his way to a shutout, but the Lakers struggled to clear the zone in a third period that saw Kam River pepper Cates with 26 shots. In the end, it took an empty Walleye net and six skaters to beat Cates.
The Lakers had a handful of attempts on the power play when Nick Carlson of the Walleye was sent off for high-sticking less than two minutes into the extra frame, but they failed to capitalize until Fagnilli, a former Walleye himself, struck at 8:31 in the extra frame.
Game two on Saturday night was nearly a repeat of the first as the Walleye tied the game with less than 90 seconds to go, but 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 Cates at the three-minute mark. 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.
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 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.
“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,” Judson said after the game.
Puck drop is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. central time, both nights.
The Lakers split the away games at NorWest Arena this year with the Walleye, with one regulation win, a regulation loss, a shootout win, and a shootout loss so games remaining tight for the rest of the series is not out of the question.
Should Kam River win either of their home games the series will shift back to Ice For Kids Arena on Friday night for a 7:15 p.m. puck drop.
Meanwhile, in Dryden, the Ice Dogs blew home ice advantage, losing two straight to the Thunder Bay North Stars, 1-0 Friday night and 4-3 on Saturday. However, the Ice Dogs notched a 3-2 win on Monday night, bringing that series to two games to one in the North Stars favour. They play again tonight in Thunder Bay.
