Mitch Calvert
It was just what the doctor ordered.
Despite some inner turmoil and trade requests surrounding the CJHL’s Jan. 10 deadline, the Fort Frances Jr. Sabres were able to overcome the distractions and grab three of a possible four points against the SIJHL-leading Fort William North Stars on Friday and Saturday.
The Sabres were opportunistic in Friday night’s game and, despite getting heavily outshot 49-18, were two seconds away from a 4-3 victory when Trevor Gamache tied it for the host North Stars.
Gamache then scored again in the shootout, as did teammate Michael MacDonald, to seal the 5-4 comeback win.
“Ryan [Faragher] made the difference in stopping many shots,” Sabres’ head coach Wayne Strachan said. “We had to weather a storm the first 10 minutes of the first, and both teams traded two power-play goals apiece.
“In the second is where Ryan was huge as we had to kill a few penalties off and they got a lot of shots this period,” Strachan added. “I wasn’t on the bench until the third with trade deadline looming the next day, but we found a way to play an ugly road game and came out with one point.”
Colton Kennedy and Mitch Cain each had two goals apiece for the Sabres (three of which came on the power play) while Joel Langevin added two and Cale Brown the other for Fort William.
But the Sabres weren’t discouraged by Friday’s result and came out with one of their best efforts of the season in a 5-1 win Saturday night.
“I didn’t know what to expect from our club,” Strachan remarked. “I was busy with the trade deadline, and after losing a tough one, maybe one we shouldn’t have won, but one that we somehow found away to scrap and claw for a point.
“I thought we would be a little flat [Saturday],” Strachan admitted. “I know the guys were nervous about what was happening in my room, [and] I didn’t have a good feeling about the game.
“But, with what little I saw of the game, we played well as a team,” he added. “We skated and moved the puck well making smart decisions, our special teams were both good, and again we had solid goaltending.”
Chris Sinclair opened the scoring and added an assist while linemate Brendan Baumgartner netted two goals to go along with an assist.
Kyle Turgeon and Kenny Carpenter also scored for the Sabres while Gamache netted the North Stars’ lone goal.
The Sabres improved to 19-9-2, good for third place in the standings, while Fort William sits on top with a 24-4-3 record.
The Sabres next travel to Schreiber to meet the Diesels on Thursday before playing two road games against the Thunder Bay Bearcats on Friday and Saturday (Jan. 16-17).
