Dan Falloon
The Fort Frances Lakers found that being lousy visitors didn’t equate to being great hosts in their 4-3 first-round playoff series win over the K&A Wolverines.
But after winning three road games to upset the fourth-place Wolverines in that best-of-seven showdown, Lakers’ head coach Wayne Strachan knows his team needs to be downright miserable to play against here at the Ice For Kids Arena to have a chance of knocking off the Dryden Ice Dogs in the SIJHL semi-finals.
“On the road, we’ve shown that we’re a much different team and that we’re more focused,” noted Strachan.
“At home, I think we have to get that mentality and get all the distractions of the fans and girlfriends, families, whatever it may be, behind us and realize that hockey should be our main focus,” he stressed.
Strachan felt his squad became complacent playing in front of the friendly crowd—causing the Lakers to cough up leads in both home losses to K&A in the first round.
“When we’re at home, we seemed to take for granted that it would be easier to win, but we only had 30- to 40-minute stints where we played well,” he remarked.
“We always seem to have a lull at home.”
The Ice Dogs finished second during the regular season, but twice edged the first-place Fort William North Stars in the league’s round-robin to determine the top three playoff seedings.
By virtue of their 4-0 record, the Ice Dogs earned the right to select their opponent, opting to play the Lakers in the semi-finals.
That best-of-seven series opens tonight in Dryden, with Game 2 going there Friday (both at 7:30 p.m.)
Fort Frances will host Games 3 and 4 on Saturday and Monday at 7:30 p.m.
Game 5, if necessary, will be held next Wednesday (March 24) at 7:30 p.m. in Dryden. If a Game 6 is needed, it would be played here next Friday (March 26) at 7:30 p.m.
Should the series go the full seven games, the finale will be played Saturday, March 27 at 7:30 p.m. in Dryden.
The winner advances to the SIJHL final against either the Fort William North Stars or Sioux Lookout Flyers, who are squaring off in the other semi-final series.
The good news is that Fort Frances generally played the Ice Dogs well here at the Ice For Kids Arena, despite losing all 12 games to them this season.
The Lakers dropped three of their six home dates to Dryden by just one goal, with two of those going to overtime—providing for flashes of confidence.
“We’re going to view a couple of the videos of the games where we had success against them [Dryden], and just look at what generated our success,” Strachan explained.
“They beat us by one or two goals a few times.
“I think once we put our minds to it, come with a work ethic in our mind that we’ve been close, and hopefully this is going to be in the back of our players’ minds and motivate them,” he reasoned.
Lakers’ goalie Jameson Shortreed was one player who was night-and-day on the road versus at home in the series against K&A. Shortreed held the Wolverines to just seven goals in the four games in Thunder Bay, which included giving up four in a 5-3 loss in Game 1.
But in front of the home crowd, Shortreed allowed 13 in three games.
“I think it’s focus, and how you prepare for the game,” Strachan said. “Maybe on the road, it’s different for him. He has a different prep plan, I guess.
“He’s got to find a way to get that at home,” he stressed.
It was in Dryden where the Lakers tended to have trouble holding down the Ice Dogs during the regular season.
The Lakers bookended their season series against Dryden with a couple of strong road performances, but were outscored in the four away games in between by a margin of 29-9.
Again, there is reason for Laker fans to hope as Fort Frances won three of the four games in Thunder Bay in their first-round series.
The Ice Dogs’ power play generally has been lethal against the Lakers so far this season, connecting 20 times on 53 opportunities.
But Fort Frances didn’t spot the Ice Dogs any goals on the man advantage in their final three meetings, meaning the Lakers have killed off 14-straight penalties against Dryden.
Despite the Lakers’ general improvement defensively, Strachan knows staying out of the box is key for his team.
“We’ve got to take away their speed, their skill,” he remarked. “We’re going to have to play a gritty style and hopefully limit their chances on the power play, and try to play them as much 5-on-5 as we can.”
Against the Wolverines, the Lakers flubbed a chance to advance to the semi-finals on home ice on Friday night, turning a 3-2 third-period lead into a 6-4 loss.
But they came to play in Game 7 on Sunday afternoon in the Lakehead, emerging with a 3-2 overtime win—highlighted by a pair of goals from team captain Tyler Stevenson, including the clincher.
“Everyone pretty much just jumped up off the bench, started skating over, and just mauled him,” Shortreed said of his teammate’s reaction to Stevenson’s rebound goal.
The 17-year-old, who was named the SIJHL’s top goalie and top rookie prior to Game 7, recalled his will to win when the puck dropped to start the extra period.
“The funny thing was is that I wasn’t even nervous,” he noted. “I wanted to win and I knew what I had to do. I knew my team could perform and they wanted it.
“We [had] dominated the third, so going into overtime, we carried the momentum.”
Shortreed acknowledged the awards were a shot-in-the-arm right before the biggest game of his SIJHL career.
“It was a big confidence boost,” he admitted. “It helped a lot. It was awesome.”
Shortreed posted a 10-26-4 record, including three shutouts, to go along with a 4.55 goals against average and a 0.895 save percentage.
Shortreed led the league in saves, stopping 1,468 pucks—nearly 600 more than the second-place finisher.
Stevenson, who led the Lakers with 21 goals during the regular season, was held to just two assists through the first five games of the first-round series against K&A, but rose to the challenge when most needed—tallying three times in the final two games.
“It was definitely his best game of the series, and something the team needed was for that line to get going,” lauded Strachan.
“Tyler stepped up with two huge goals—one to get us going and one to win ’er in overtime.”
After Friday night’s game here, Strachan was frustrated with his top line, which had connected for its first goal of the series late in the 6-4 loss.
“I think [Cody] Edwards is working hard. The other two, the bottom line is they’ve got to compete,” he had sighed at the time.
“They’re not competing like they can. They go in spurts.”
Fortunately for the Lakers, their other lines picked up the slack, including the one of Jordan Carne, Byron Katapaytuk, and Mike Jourdain, which accounted for three of the four game-winners for the Lakers.
“Our line’s been working really hard, and putting the puck to the net, and it’s been going in,” noted Carne, who is tied with Katapaytuk for the post-season points lead with eight.
Friday night’s see-saw game saw the Wolverines push ahead 2-0 as Aaron Ross slipped one past Shortreed at 5:18 of the first period before Matt Hunter banged home a rebound at 14:27.
The Lakers got on the board at 16:05 when Henry Gutierrez pounced on a rebound and fired it under the arm of Wolverines’ goalie Spencer Malone.
Fort Frances was given a 5-on-3 for 1:25 early in the second. And while the Lakers couldn’t get much going with the two-man advantage, Jourdain’s shot trickled by Malone just after the first penalty had expired to make it 2-2.
Blake Boaz then handed the Lakers their first lead late in the frame after he turned and fired a bullet over Malone’s glove at 18:29.
But with their season on the line, K&A came to play in the third—stringing together three goals in a 2:27 span to surge ahead 5-3.
Hunter then rounded out the Wolverines’ blitz at 7:46.
Stevenson blasted home a rebound at 14:33 to pull the Lakers to within two, but Fort Frances could come no closer.
“Between periods, we talked about having the lead, what we needed to do to continue to keep the lead,” Strachan sighed after Friday’s loss.
“We went out flat [in the third],” he noted. “I don’t know if it was nerves or what it was, but it was ugly.
“They just capitalized on their chances, and here we go: Game 7.”
Fortunately, Stevenson’s good vibes from scoring his first of the series carried over to Game 7 on Sunday as he scored the opener 2:43 into the game.
Nico Anderson responded for the Wolverines 15:36, then gave K&A the lead at 11:32 of the second.
But Matthew Caulfield drew the Lakers even at 14:01 of the third—setting the stage for Stevenson’s heroics at 13:05 of overtime to send the Lakers to the semi-finals.
