Dan Falloon
Heading into last night’s game here against Sioux Lookout, Tyler Stevenson still was looking for his first win as the new captain of the Fort Frances Lakers.
The fifth-place Lakers (8-24-4) dropped both their games last week to extend their losing streak to four games, starting with a 7-4 loss to the fourth-place K&A Wolverines here Thursday before a 7-2 setback in Dryden on Saturday.
Stevenson became the second captain in Lakers’ history after Colton Kennedy was traded at the Jan. 10 deadline.
After the trade, Lakers’ coach Wayne Strachan consulted the alternate captains, including Stevenson, who felt a new captain was necessary.
Tim Hennessey picked up an ‘A’ when Stevenson accepted the ‘C.’
Strachan said Stevenson was an easy choice to take over Kennedy’s position.
“Tyler’s name came up right away,” he recalled. “I think it’s a role he was ready for.”
While Stevenson’s initial play as captain hasn’t been on par with his season pace so far, Strachan feels the Edmontonian still is getting accustomed to the role.
“I don’t know if he’s played his best two games since becoming captain, but it’s a learning curve and it’s a situation he’ll have to adjust to,” he remarked.
“I think he’ll be fine when he just realizes that he has to be himself.”
Stevenson faced his first test as leader at home last Thursday against K&A, who opened the scoring when David McCaig deposited a rebound with just three seconds left in a Lakers’ penalty for too many men on the ice.
The visitors then made it 2-0 less than two minutes later when Travis Weller floated a shot over Lakers’ goalie Jameson Shortreed.
Fort Frances struck back 25 seconds into the second period when Cody Edwards wired a no-doubter over the left shoulder of Wolverine goalie Eric Swanick.
Jordan Carne and newly-acquired Matt Caulfield drew the assists.
A little bit of the rough stuff then helped the Lakers tie the score. After Jaret Leclair duked and downed Weller at 14:35, Byron Katapaytuk hopped on a free puck and beat Swanick.
The comeback went for naught, however, as the Lakers fell into some penalty trouble, leaving K&A with a 4-on-3 advantage.
The extra space on the ice gave Matt Hunter enough room to put a rebound through Shortreed’s five-hole to stake the Wolverines to a 3-2 lead.
They regained their two-goal lead 59 seconds into the third when Dustin Roy, acquired at the trade deadline, hit the twine behind Shortreed.
The goal came just moments after Edwards’ had blazed past K&A’s defenders and ripped off a shot that Swanick was able to swat out of play.
K&A then made it 5-2 at 6:51 of the third when Rory McKie converted Len Pelletier’s pass on a 2-on-1.
The Lakers weren’t about to roll over, though. Stevenson knocked a Cody Hasbargen rebound past Swanick to pull the hosts within 5-3 at 8:32.
Katapaytuk then netted his controversial second goal of the game. He snapped a bullet past Swanick at 10:45 but the net was knocked off its moorings right afterwards.
After a brief consultation, the officials determined Katapaytuk’s goal would stand, leaving Fort Frances trailing by just one.
But K&A’s Aaron Ross wanted no more to do with the Lakers’ comeback, beating Shortreed just 16 seconds after Katapaytuk’s marker.
Hartwell Marable then put the game out of reach at 13:40, backhanding a Roy rebound into the cage for K&A’s third power-play tally of the night.
Swanick made 19 saves to earn the win while Shortreed turned away 27 Wolverine shots for the loss.
Strachan felt a few moments of letdown throughout the game were what did the Lakers in.
“You can’t play for 35 minutes and expect to win a hockey game,” he stressed afterwards.
Specifically, the Lakers fell flat on the defensive side of the ledger.
“We’ve got to start taking pride in our defensive game,” Strachan remarked. “I thought we did a good job below the goal line [but] we were in chaos in the top end of our own end, with guys circling, not taking the body, and watching the puck instead of knowing where their guys are.
“That cost us a few goals.”
Then on Saturday against Dryden, the second-place Ice Dogs erupted for four first-period goals, outshooting the Lakers 20-5, en route to a 7-2 win to improve their record to 27-5-5.
“We just came out flat,” Strachan said. “A team with their ability and their skill level, we can’t just expect to step out on the ice and have the game go our way.
“We have to work hard, and for the most part that didn’t happen.
“We watched a good team play hockey and pretty much left our goalie out to dry again,” he added.
Dryden got on the board 2:47 into the game when Brenden Church beat Shortreed. Kyle Heck then made it 2-0 just 47 seconds later.
The Lakers fought back as Henry Gutierrez beat Dryden goalie Curtis Barker at 15:47.
But the Ice Dogs regained their two-goal advantage just over a minute later on Ben McClellan’s tally, then went up 4-1 when Jon Mitchell’s 5-on-3 power-play marker found its way into the net as time expired.
The Ice Dogs followed that up with another power-play goal 56 seconds into the second when BJ McClellan made it 5-1.
Gutierrez netted his second of the game, and 11th of the season, at 3:59 to cut the deficit to three.
But Dryden iced the game in the third, getting goals from Mitchell and Heck to round out the scoring.
Shortreed blocked 37 of the 44 Ice Dog shots while Barker turned away 20 of the 22 fired his way.
Gutierrez led the Lakers’ attack with both goals, earning praise from Strachan.
“Henry was probably one of our more consistent players,” he lauded. “He used speed and his ability to get in on the ‘D’ a couple times to forecheck and cause turnovers that gave him the opportunity to score both goals.”
Strachan felt defenceman Brett Williams, acquired from Dryden at the trade deadline, hadn’t quite found his footing with the Lakers yet.
“The first game, I was really pleased with his play. He was good one-on-one, and made a lot of good decisions with the puck,” noted Strachan.
“He’s a player that moves the puck with authority and makes sure that he’s got something behind it on his passes.
“In Dryden, I’m not sure if he was just nervous playing his old team or what it was, but he admitted that it wasn’t his best game and he struggled for the better part of two periods out there,” added Strachan.
“You’ve got to expect that with a short turnaround and playing the team you just came from, and maybe just wanted to try a little harder or do a little too much to prove yourself to both teams.
“It’s probably a game that he wants to forget about right now,” Strachan remarked.
