Lucas Punkari
Despite getting shellacked 7-2 by the Bentley Generals (Alberta) in the Allan Cup semi-finals in Kenora on Friday night, the Fort Frances Thunderhawks made a lot of noise and impressed those in attendance in their first appearance at the national senior amateur men’s championship.
“Before we left, I talked to [assistant coach] Randy [White] and we said that if we could be playing on Friday, that would be a major sense of accomplishment,” Thunderhawks’ head coach Larry Beck said.
“The guys played their hearts out, but in the end they just ran out of gas,” he noted.
“We were up against some fine-tuned machines, but we have nothing to hold our heads down about.
“We gave them all they [could] handle and a lot of people were talking about how well the Fort Frances boys did,” Beck added.
The semi-final showing for the Thunderhawks also was impressive given their poor start to the tournament, dropping their two round-robin games to the South East Prairie Thunder (Manitoba) and the eventual champion Clarenville Caribous (Newfoundland).
“Against South East, I thought we played really strong but we just weren’t able to capitalize,” Beck said of their opening 6-3 loss last Monday afternoon.
“It was a really close game against Clarenville, where we lost 3-1 [last Tuesday], but I really think that we could have had a chance to win that game if it wasn’t for their goaltender,” he reasoned.
“We watched him [Jason Churchill] play the entire week, and there was no doubt that he was the most valuable player of the tournament.
“He was phenomenal.”
After a day off last Wednesday, the Thunderhawks faced the host Kenora Thistles in the quarter-finals last Thursday night,
upending their northern rivals in an emotional 5-3 victory.
“I wouldn’t say there was any bad blood between the two teams, but we knew that we had a chance to knock Kenora off at home so we were really up for it,” Beck said.
“We were all over them right off of the bat and led 3-0, but they were able to come back on us to tie things up,” he noted.
“[But] we didn’t panic and kept doing what we were doing, and once we scored that fifth goal, the place started to empty out pretty quickly.”
Myles Kuharski paced the T’hawks against Kenora, netting a hat trick, and led the team in scoring with four goals during the tournament.
“That line [Kuharski, Rustyn Dolyny, and Troy Ilijow] worked really hard against Clarenville and created numerous chances, but they were just unable to score,” Beck recalled.
“Myles just kept plugging away, and those three goals that he scored against Kenora were all really nice goals and very well-deserved.”
Beck also pointed to a variety of players on the Thunderhawks’ roster who he felt were key contributors to their semi-final showing.
“Chris Medicine had some stand-out performances between the pipes, and we had a lot of faith in him,” he said.
“Tom Biondich and Ross Johnson played a lot of minutes for us [on] both special teams and regular shifts, and they both went at it really hard, while the Esselinks [Kris and Jake] were both stalwarts back on the blueline.”
While the T’hawks were unable to make it to the title game, Beck feels their experience certainly was one the team will remember for years to come—and also will make them hungrier to make a return for the 2012 tournament in Lloydminster, Sask.
“To get there is quite a chore as you have to win the region and then beat the southern Ontario winner to even get into the Allan Cup,” Beck noted.
“But some of the guys in the room really want to push and try it again, so I think they really enjoyed the experience this week.
“And we were able to put our name on the map, as well, which is nice to say,” he reasoned.
