Mitch Calvert
In a game that featured playoff-like intensity, it was only fitting the goal that decided it was of the simple variety.
Brad Pawlowski’s wrist shot found a hole through a sea of bodies midway through the game and ended up as the winner, lifting the Thunder Bay Bearcats to a testy 3-1 victory over the Fort Frances Jr. Sabres here Saturday night.
Graeme McCormack had opened the scoring for the Bearcats (27-7-5) with a similar harmless-looking point shot that deflected off a few bodies on the way to the net for the only goal of the first period.
Then after Pawlowski’s goal in the second made it 2-0, the Sabres (23-14-3) showed a lot of resiliency in battling back, getting a power-play goal from Chris Sinclair with five seconds left before intermission.
The Sabres had carried the play for much of the second and third periods, but couldn’t capitalize on a number of power-play chances, including what turned into a six-on-four advantage with Darren Cizmar in the box for the final 1:55.
Kyle Tront iced the win with an empty-netter with three ticks left on the clock.
Bearcats’ goalie Josh Mrakic was solid, but didn’t need to be spectacular in stopping 22 shots.
Sabres’ coach Wayne Strachan said his team made Mrakic’s job far too easy for him by not going to the traffic areas and generating some garbage goals.
“Made the saves when he had to and played well for them, [but] to be critical of us, we didn’t attack the net enough and make the game hard for him,” Strachan remarked.
Despite the loss, Strachan saw plenty of positives from his team, which now has slid to a 5-6-1 record since the Christmas break.
“I think we played a strong game. We needed to capitalize on one of our chances and it didn’t happen,” Strachan said of a final power-play for the last 1:55 of the game.
“We needed to have a strong showing against them, and for the most part we played a pretty solid game and gained some much-needed confidence,” he added.
The Sabres next host the league-leading Fort William North Stars this Friday and Saturday (Feb. 13-14) at the Ice for Kids Arena.
