Staff
Any hockey coach worth their salt is a firm believer in the concept that playing good hockey for only parts of a game more often than will not lead to bad news on the scoreboard at the final buzzer.
Wayne Strachan most likely subscribed to that theory before last week—and is an even more ardent supporter of the notion after his team’s latest outing.
The Fort Frances Lakers head coach saw his squad play well in the first period, and for portions of the third, against Sioux Lookout last Thursday night at the Ice For Kids Arena.
But that formula proved to be ineffective against the Flyers, who used a four-goal outburst through the second and third periods to pave the way to a 5-3 victory.
Fort Frances (5-11-3) now has lost four-straight games to sink to the cellar of the SIJHL, three points behind the fourth-place K&A Wolverines (6-12-4) and eight points behind third-place Sioux Lookout (10-11-1), although the Lakers have three games in hand on both squads.
For the Lakers to move back up the standings, they will have to fix their inability to defend home ice, where they are a miserable 1-8-2 so far this season.
The locals gave their fans reason to believe with a strong opening period. The Lakers outshot the Flyers 14-7 and connected for the period’s lone goal when Henry Gutierrez beat Jordan Giguere on the power play at 2:25 for his third of the year.
But the Flyers cranked up the intensity in the second, with team-leading scorer A.J. Wensley notching both goals at 13:48 and 18:20 against T.J. Pocock to put the visitors in front to stay.
Darnell Ferland stretched the lead to 3-1 only 21 seconds into the third period before Adam Wensley scored the Flyers’ fourth-straight goal with his power-play tally at 8:25.
The Lakers finally rediscovered their form later in the stanza and tried to rally.
First, it was Jordan Carne bulging the twine with his fourth of the campaign at 12:09. Then Anders Wick really put the heat on Sioux Lookout by picking up his first goal of the season at 18:09 to cut the gap to 4-3.
But the Flyers would not be denied the two points, with Galen Matyajanka notching an empty-netter with 14 seconds left to hammer the final nail in the Lakers’ coffin.
Giguere looked more like Anaheim Ducks’ goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere with an all-star quality 31-save performance to improve his season record to 6-6-1.
Pocock, meanwhile, repelled 29 Flyers’ shots to fall to 0-2.
Sioux Lookout now has won three times in five tries this season against the Lakers, including twice in three visits to the Ice For Kids Arena.
Fort Frances has scored a league-low 57 goals in 19 games, including only 18 in their past seven, although it still has those three games in hand to make up the offensive deficit on the Wolverines (67 goals in 22 games).
After a quiet week, the Lakers will be put to the test four times in the next seven days, starting with a visit to the second-place Dryden Ice Dogs (13-3-2) tonight.
Then on Friday and Saturday, the squad will head to Thunder Bay to challenge the first-place Fort William North Stars (16-1) in a two-game set.
The North Stars maintained their No. 18 position in the latest Canadian Junior Hockey League top 20 rankings, which came out on Monday, and carry a 10-game winning streak into action tonight against K&A in the Lakehead.
The Lakers close their hectic week with a home game next Tuesday (Nov. 24) against the Wisconsin Mustangs at the Ice For Kids Arena, with the home squad also organizing two fundraisers for that evening.
The team will hold a Christmas bake sale starting at 6 p.m. at the Memorial Sports Centre, with cookies, fudge, candy, and other holiday treats available for purchase.
As well, the Lakers will hold a toy drive prior to the game, with fans encouraged to bring a toy donation to the arena, which then will go towards the United Native Friendship Centre and Salvation Army Christmas hampers.
