Staff
Almost 55 minutes of hard work by the Fort Frances Lakers last night was erased in just 53 seconds.
That’s how long it took the Sioux Lookout Flyers to score three times, the last two by Dwight Lee, and turn a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 victory over the visiting Lakers in SIJHL action.
The third-place Flyers (11-14-2) lead the season series 4-2, including capturing the last three-straight, thanks to their late-game surge against the Lakers (6-16-3), who now have lost two-straight and nine of their last 10 overall.
Sioux Lookout sits nine points ahead of Fort Frances, though with the home squad holding two games in hand on the Flyers and three in hand on the K&A Wolverines (8-16-4), who lead the Lakers by five points for fourth place.
Galen Matyjanka’s power-play goal just 49 seconds into the first period staked Sioux Lookout to an early lead, but Fort Frances replied quickly when Henry Gutierrez netted his first of two goals 1:20 later.
Adam Wensley, who finished with three point, put the Flyers back in the lead at 6:14.
Colton Kennedy notched his team-leading 18th goal and 36th point of the season for the only marker of the middle frame to knot the game at 2-2.
In the third, Gutierrez tallied his second of the night and seventh of the season at 12:34 to put Fort Frances in good shape entering the home stretch.
But suddenly the good vibrations went all bad. First, Clayton Lewis capitalized on Mike Jourdain’s roughing penalty with a power-play goal at 14:45 to pull Sioux Lookout even.
Special teams proved to be a large deciding factor in the game, with Sioux Lookout going 2-for-5 on the power play while the Lakers’ unit was handcuffed in an 0-for-7 performance.
Lee then took control of the situation, scoring two goals in a 13-second span to ice the victory.
Jordan Giguere finished with 38 saves for Sioux Lookout to improve to 7-8-2 while Fort Frances goalie Jameson Shortreed’s 32 stops went for naught as he dropped to 4-12-1-1 on the campaign.
An interesting scheduling quirk will see the Lakers head to Dryden tonight for the first of two-straight games against the second-place Ice Dogs (19-3-2), with the second game also set for Dryden but not until Wednesday (Dec. 9).
Fort Frances’ next home action is set for Saturday, Dec. 12 when the Wolverines visit the Ice For Kids Arena.
