Mitch Calvert
By the time you’re reading this story, the Fort Frances Jr. Sabres either will have advanced to the SIJHL semi-finals against the Thunder Bay Bearcats or are getting ready for Game 4 of their best-of-five quarter-final showdown with the Sioux Lookout Flyers tonight in Ignace.
After winning the series-opener 7-0 on Friday night, the Sabres edged the visiting Flyers 2-1 on Saturday to grab a 2-0 lead heading into Game 3 last night in Sioux Lookout (the outcome wasn’t available prior to press time).
The Sabres got a first-period marker from Graham Dyck on a breakaway in Saturday’s game, but couldn’t beat former Sabres’ goalie David Novak until Mitch Cain snapped a 1-1 tie midway through the third period to eke out the win.
Adam Wensley, another former Sabre, had tied the game early in the third when he took a pass from Brad Bienvenue and snapped it home while camped alone in the slot.
Sabres’ coach Wayne Strachan didn’t mince words when asked about his team’s effort level in Game 2 against the last-place Flyers.
“We didn’t show up the entire game,” he remarked. “We have set goals to achieve against the Sioux and we had the feeling they were just going to hand us the game, [and] we had no effort.
“We still have a couple of players who need to have a reality check and get in perspective with their personal games in order to help the team,” Strachan added. “When you’re 6’3” and being out-muscled by 5’7” players, it really concerns the coaching staff, and the team sees what is going on also.
“Some players have to realize they play for the Sabres, not the last team they played for, and team comes first here, not how they believe or think it should be,” he stressed.
“A couple guys need to look in the mirror and ask themselves ‘Am I the player I think I am?’”
The Sabres were lured into taking offsetting minor penalties throughout the game, including leading scorer Chris Sinclair, who was sent off for 10 minutes along with the Flyers’ Ryan Watkins. A nice trade-off considering Watkins has yet to score a goal this season.
“I’ve got to use my head more,” Sinclair admitted. “I’m frustrated with strep throat and that’s kind of bugging me, but they did get into my head and were all over me, and I took dumb penalties, started using my stick, and we can’t have that in the playoffs especially.”
The Flyers knew they had to get the Sabres off their game to win—and nearly pulled off the upset if not for a late charging call to Wensley, which forced the Flyers to kill a penalty for the final minute-and-a-half of the game.
“You’re thrown the hand that is dealt and have to deal with [the penalties],” Flyers’ coach Randy Lulashuyk said. “Our guys never backed away from it, but we just came out on the wrong end.
“The guys feel it in the pit of their stomach today. It was a full 60-minute effort.
“We don’t want to change anything,” Lulashuyk added. “We want to make sure we are taking away time and space, and be that physical presence in both ends.
“It’s playoff time, we’re not looking to do anything fancy, just go to the net.”
Sinclair admitted the Sabres may have underestimated the Flyers on Saturday.
“They were a different team than [Friday night],” he agreed. “They came in with a goal to steal at least one win from us and they gave it their all.
“We had to battle hard and maybe didn’t battle our best, but we got the job done and that’s all that matters right now.”
The Sabres went 0-for-7 on the power play on Saturday. Strachan said they need to play with more of a sense of urgency while a man up.
“Once again our power play let us down,” he mused. “We need to start getting our players to be intense, make intelligent plays, support one another, get the puck to the net, and pay the price to score goals.
“The last two months our power play hasn’t been what it should or could be,” Strachan added.
Novak came up big with 37 saves, including a goal-line stop on Sinclair in the second period, and was much-improved after being yanked early in Game 1 here Friday.
“We talked about this beforehand, ‘the heck with the textbook, son’ and just go out there and let your instincts guide you,” Lulashuyk said of Novak. “He made some great saves, kept the bench motivated to keep going, and we got some great hits from some players, and a lot of sacrifices.
“We got belted a few times, but the legs kept moving and we never backed away, and you’ve got to keep that going for 60 minutes strong,” he noted. “We haven’t shown consistency for 60 minutes like that since I joined the club in January.
“Sometimes you can lay it all on the line and not get the result, but you have to be willing to do it again the next night.”
Lulashuyk said they need to find a way to finish off some of those point-blank chances to have any chance of prolonging the series.
“We had some good chances that we didn’t bury,” he lamented. “You’ve got to finish a few of those against a good, strong club and we weren’t able to.”
Despite the shaky win Saturday, the Sabres opened the series with a bang—leading 4-0 after one period and then coasting to a 7-0 victory.
“I think we came out and played our game to a tee,” said Strachan. “In the first period we wanted to pressure them, and play physical against their defencemen as we feel this is the way to control the game against this team.
“We wanted to get a lot of shots on Novak, in particular high shots as he is always down on his knees.
“We controlled the first and got to their defence as well as their goalie,” Strachan lauded.
“The second [period] we didn’t come out hard, got a lot of bad habits, and started to play like individuals and again our power play let us down,” he noted. “The third we came out and controlled the game again and finished off hard.
“Our power play better get on track to help us as far as we go in these playoffs,” he warned.
Along with dyed hair, the Sabres also have begun the playoff ritual of growing out their facial hair by any means necessary (notably men’s hair-replacement products).
“It’s been a thing around the NHL and all leagues,” Sinclair noted. “Grow out your beards, grow out your facial hair, and we figured we’d give it a shot and see how it helps us.”
Meanwhile, the Schreiber Diesels used home ice to their advantage in beating the Dryden Ice Dogs 5-2 and 7-1 in the first two games of their quarter-final series.
With a win in Dryden tomorrow night (March 19), the Diesels would advance to a semi-final meeting with the first-place Fort William North Stars.
