Lucas Punkari
When the Fort Frances Lakers take to the ice here Friday night against the Thunder Bay North Stars, it will be their first SIJHL contest since a 6-2 victory over the host Duluth Clydesdales back on Sept. 25.
The Lakers originally only were supposed to be off until last night, when they were to host the expansion Iron Range Ironheads.
But when that game was postponed until next Tuesday (Oct. 11) to help give the first-year franchise more time to prepare for the season, the Lakers found themselves with nearly two weeks off between games.
From a coaching perspective, Lakers’ bench boss Wayne Strachan had a light approach for the players at the start of their time off before getting his troops back into the full swing of things.
“Last week we tried to keep it fun early on in the week before moving onto more of our systems stuff for the rest of the week,” he noted.
“We then gave the guys a few days off to kind of rest and get away from hockey, as we played 10 games in about a three week period.
“And on Monday, we did lot of flow drills with our shooting and passing, and had a little bit of a skate to get our legs going after being off for the weekend,” Strachan added.
“After our practice on Monday, we just addressed the length of our time off and the focus that we need to have in our remaining practices going into our game here on Friday.
“Starting on Friday, we are going to have five games in about eight nights, so this week will be a very important one for us as we need our rest and energy to be at the top of our game,” he stressed.
While the players themselves have been working on bettering their game, and also resting any bumps and bruises they may have sustained during the early portion of the season, a couple have used the break to do a few things off the ice.
“I actually just finished up a referee clinic here recently, so I’ll be doing some minor hockey refereeing this year which will allow me to get some extra skating in,” Lakers’ defenceman Marty McFadden said.
“In between our practices and our dryland sessions, I’ve basically been hanging out with my roommate [forward Adam] Wensley, and we’ve been kicking back by playing video games and watching movies,” added goalie Tyler Ampe.
“We got the new FIFA game at the house now so I have to make Wensley look like a little girl when I’m playing against him,” Ampe laughed as Wensley looked on beside him.
While the guys may have fun joking around with one another off the ice, they are deadly serious when it comes to their on-ice play so far this year.
Through six games, they hold a 4-2 record and have eight points—putting them two back of the defending SIJHL champion Wisconsin Wilderness in the standings.
“In out first few games of the seasons, we were kind of sluggish really,” Ampe admitted.
“But after our game [on Sept. 23 here] against Wisconsin [when the Lakers scored six third-period goals to win 6-3], it felt like we started to get things together.
“And we need to make sure that we start off strong in the first period and put it together for a whole 60 minutes,” he stressed.
“I believe there’s still lots of things that we need to improve on,” noted McFadden.
“Of course, every team has their weaknesses that they need to improve on during the course of the season, so all that we can do is just to work on all of the things that we need fix in order to keep up with everyone else,” he reasoned.
This Friday’s game on home ice against the North Stars marks the first time the two teams have met since their season-opener here back on Sept. 16, when the Lakers rallied to win 4-3 in a shootout.
Since that time, though, the North Stars have gone in the opposite direction of the Lakers. The hosts of the 2012 Dudley Hewitt Cup only have earned a single point in four games and currently occupy sixth place in the standings.
“Despite what their record says, we can’t take them lightly,” Ampe stressed. “They are going to come out hard as they always do against us, so I’m expecting to see a lot of hitting and physical play out there between both teams.”
“Sometimes a team just needs that one game in order to get that confidence going in the right direction,” Strachan noted.
“We don’t want to be that team that helps to give them that momentum, so we need to make sure that we play a solid 60 minute game where we show them what the Lakers can be and what they will be for the rest of the year,” he added.
The Lakers then will hit the road Saturday night for their second meeting of the season with the Sioux Lookout Flyers, who won 4-2 here on Sept. 17.
“I truly believe that them beating and out-working us in that game really helped them believe that they were a team that can play with anyone,” Strachan said of the fourth-place Flyers.
“And I think they have showed that during the first few weeks of the season.
“We have to go up there with redemption in our mind and the attitude that we will not be out-worked or pushed around by you once again,” he continued.
“Our mindset has to be that ‘We are coming into your own barn to beat you and to show you how we can play for 60 minutes.’”
Before the Lakers make another trek to Sioux Lookout next Wednesday night (Oct. 12), the squad will welcome the expansion Ironheads to town Tuesday evening, in what will be just the fourth-ever game for the first-year club.
While it’s hard to know what exactly the Ironheads will bring to the table at the start of their season, the Lakers plan to just focus on what they will bring to the ice instead of dwelling on the unknown.
“We just need to go out there, play our game, and hopefully make the best of it,” McFadden remarked.
“Any team can be tough in their first few games, but I’m sure that we will make the most of it,” he noted.
“It’s really something I try not to think about going into a situation like that,” said Ampe.
“I would imagine that with them just starting up that their chemistry is going to be a little bit off compared to our guys, as we have been playing for about a month-and-a-half now.
“So I think that will be something that should help us out throughout the game,” he reasoned.
While the lengthy break between games could lead to a little bit of rust needing to be shaken off in a hurry, an added bonus to having that time off is the fact the Lakers will see two members return to the ice Friday night.
“Both Byron Katapaytuk [concussion symptoms] and Colton Spicer [shoulder] will be returning to the lineup against Thunder Bay,” Strachan said.
“Also, Alex Bruess [facial injury] and Blake Boaz [broken wrist] are having check-ups this week to see how they are healing up.
“At this point, Alex is probably two-three weeks away from coming back, with Blake still being about four weeks away from returning at the earliest.
“I guess this time off has really helped us out in one way as we’ve also got those few bumps, bruises, or illnesses that we had out of our system,” Strachan added.
“So now we will hopefully have some solid practices and drylands this week before our game here on Friday night.”
