Following their 6-4 loss here Saturday night, the Fort Frances Jr. Sabres now face the difficult task of re-grouping in order to take on the same team that bested them for fourth place and home-ice advantage for the first round of the SIJHL playoffs: the Schreiber Diesels.
The Sabres went into the two-game regular-season finale last weekend tied with Schreiber for fourth place with 50-points apiece. A Friday night tie did nothing to resolve the situation—giving each team a single point in the standings.
Then three quick Diesel goals Saturday night seemed to sink the Sabres in their post-season push.
While the red-and-black managed to mount something of a comeback, they ultimately fell just short to the Diesels, who finished the regular season with 53 points to the Sabres’ 51.
As a result, the Diesel will host the fifth-place Sabres at the Schreiber Arena for the first two games of their best-of-five quarter-final series tonight and tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. (March 12 and 13).
Games 3 will be here Saturday (March 15), with Game 4 (if necessary) slated for Monday (March 17) at the Ice for Kids Arena.
Should the series go the distance, Game 5 is scheduled for next Wednesday (March 19) back in Schreiber.
Even with a regular-season record of 2-4-2 against the Diesels, the Sabres have reason to be positive about the upcoming series.
The Sabres have shown sparks of brilliance at the goalie position over the regular season, relying heavily on Ryan Faragher. The 17-year-old’s 13-17-2 record is somewhat misleading as it fails to highlight his .896 save percentage (good enough for fifth in the SIJHL).
And as was seen here Saturday night, even when Faragher isn’t at the top of his game, the Sabres have a back-up who is ready to jump into action if need be.
David Novak proved his worth with the Fort Frances squad when he replaced Faragher and stopped the bleeding against the Diesels—allowing only two goals over the final 40 minutes.
The Diesels, the defending SIJHL champs, have split their goaltending duties expertly between their pair of netminders, Matt Kernick and Josh Baker.
The two sport similar win-loss records and nearly identical save percentages, so regardless of who is in net, opponents cannot afford to take the night off.
With Baker between the pipes, the Diesels have gone 13-11-2. His .888 save percentage is only one-thousandth of a point higher than Kernick, who has compiled a 10-11-1 record of his own.
However, Kernick has the edge in shutouts, holding three teams scoreless this season, including the second-place Fort William North Stars.
The Sabres also are fortunate to enjoy the second-best power-play unit in the SIJHL. Maple Ridge, B.C. native Quinn Amiel, 19, leads the way in power-play scoring, posting a league-high 34 points with the man-advantage.
But he isn’t the only Sabres’ player who contributes on the power play. Alessio Tomassetti and Mike Ainsworth also are ranked among the top 10 power-play scorers.
As a team, the Sabres have scored 72 goals in 328 power-play opportunities. Only Dryden’s 74 goals in 330 chances is better.
In related news, the other opening-round playoff series will pit the third-place Thunder Bay Bearcats against the sixth-place Thunder Bay Bulldogs.
The Bearcats finished the regular season with a 33-16-1 record while the Bulldogs struggled to a 9-38-3 record.
The top-ranked Dryden Ice Dogs (36-11-1-2) and second-place Fort William North Stars (35-11-1-3) both earned first-round byes.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
