After dropping two games at home for the first time all year, the Fort Frances Lakers are looking to fight their way back to the top in the SIJHL finals.
The Lakers fell 4-3 to the Thunder Bay North Stars in overtime on Friday night, and surrendered the game winning goal late Saturday in a 3-2 loss.
Fort Frances native Teagan Wrolstad set 1,000-plus fans into a frenzy as he opened the scoring for the Lakers on both nights, but the Lakers struggled to close out in both games.
On Friday they clawed back into the game with 19 seconds remaining after giving up three goals in the third period. They went on to fall four minutes into the first overtime period.
On Saturday a late tripping call saw the North Stars score a powerplay goal to take the lead with less than two minutes remaining.
Following Saturday’s game, head coach and general manager, Luke Judson said the team needed to end games on a stronger note.
“It’s been a struggle for us, closing out games,” Judson said.
“I thought we did a good job in game six in Kam River finishing that job, but we’ve had two chances in this series that we didn’t take care of business.”
That said, Judson was optimistic about the team’s abilities to come back and reassert themselves on the road.
“If any team can come back from 2-0 down, it’s our team,” he said.
“All we can do is get back to work on Monday, try to get the first one and start with that. We’ve got a good group of guys in there that are still motivated.”
The Lakers did indeed get back to work Monday night.
Judd Pesch opened the scoring near the midway point in the first period with the Lakers on the power play. The North Stars would tie it up before the end of the frame with a power play goal of their own and take the lead early in the second.
The Lakers managed to battle back and tie it up before the end of the second.
Despite the North Stars jumping back out to take the lead inside the first minute of the third period, the Lakers once again battled back.
Lakers captain Pierce Gouin tied the game up around the 9-minute mark of the third and followed it up with the game winner about seven minutes later.
Despite going goalless for the first time in the series, Teagan Wrolstad played a big role in the game chipping in with three assists including on the game winning goal.
So far, Wrolstad leads the team in playoff scoring with five goals and five assists for a total of 10 points through the Lakers’ nine playoff games. Tie Schumacher is close behind him at nine points with three goals and six helpers. Rookie Judd Pesch rounds out the top three with eight points, four goals and four assists. Wrolstad’s five goals lead the team scoring race, followed by Pesch’s four.
Newly minted as the SIJHL regular season MVP, Lakers’ goaltender Brady Cates stopped 24 of 27 shots in net for the win, while Connor Dunham-Fox took the loss for the North Stars allowing four goals on 19 shots.
The Lakers will be looking to tie the series up as they take to the ice again at the Fort William Gardens at 7 p.m. Eastern / 6 p.m. Central tonight.
Having avoided a sweep, the Lakers will return home Friday night for game five at 7:15 p.m. at Ice For Kids Arena. Should the Lakers win either game, the series will shift back to Thunder Bay Saturday, and potentially back to Fort Frances next Tuesday night for a series-deciding game seven.
