Lucas Punkari
As the SIJHL regular season winds down, now is the time for the four teams battling for the second seed in the playoffs to try and separate themselves.
And with a pair of wins over the Minnesota Iron Rangers, the Fort Frances Lakers have done just that—opening a gap on the third-place Dryden Ice Dogs as the two squads prepare for a three-game stretch against one another.
Heading into tonight’s game in Dryden, the Lakers (28-15-1-2) lead the Ice Dogs by four points (59-55) and also hold three games in hand.
The Lakers’ most recent victory came Friday night in Hoyt Lakes, where they scored four first-period goals en route to a 5-2 victory over the host Iron Rangers.
“One of our focuses heading into the game was to have a quick start, as we wanted to come out and push the pace as the Iron Rangers were playing their sixth game in nine nights,” noted Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan.
“I believe that we did a good job of this as we worked hard, pressured them with our speed, and we were in their face to cause turnovers,” he added.
“The goals that we scored were not pretty, but they came as a result of going to the net hard with traffic.”
One of the offensive leaders for the Lakers on Friday was forward Tyler Brodersen, who notched a goal and an assist to now have 11 points in nine games since being acquired from the NAHL’s Soo Eagles.
“Right now, Tyler has the lucky hand on his side,” Strachan noted.
“He is smart with the puck, he reads the ice well, and he is able to find holes and is not afraid to bring the puck to the net.
“I think he just needed some time to adapt and get the opportunity to play, and he is taking advantage of it,” Strachan added.
Mason Meyer also had a goal and an assist Friday, with teammates Merritt Rysavy, Davis Smith, and Patrick Sofer also scoring.
“I thought Mason played well by working hard and battling to get two points, and I thought Merritt was a big factor in the game,” Strachan lauded.
“But again, I thought we had contributing efforts by all 20 players that were dressed.”
Kyle Fink and Nolan Holcombe scored for the Iron Rangers, who sit in fourth place in the standings five points back of the Lakers.
In their previous meeting last Tuesday at the Ice For Kids Arena here, the Lakers edged the Iron Rangers 4-3 thanks to Colton Spicer’s power-play marker in the late stages of the third period.
With 68 seconds left in regulation, the 18-year-old from Fort Frances received a slick feed from Rysavy and banged the puck past Iron Rangers’ goalie Chase Hollander.
“I would say that this would be one of the biggest goals that I’ve scored all season, especially with the timing of it,” Spicer remarked.
“I had shot from the point just before that and the puck didn’t get through, but they iced it and we came right back down the ice,” he recalled.
“Merritt made a really good play behind the net, and I was able to get in front of the net and put it in.”
The big turning point in last Tuesday’s win here was Brendan Cawston’s second-period goal, which tied the game at 2-2 and turned the momentum in the Lakers’ favour.
“It was a bit of a weird game tonight,” Strachan admitted. “Up until Brendan’s goal, I thought we were fighting the puck, didn’t have the energy that we needed to play at, and our physical game just wasn’t present.
“We got an ugly goal there off of a bit of a bounce, but we started to turn things around off of that play,” he added.
Cawston also felt the victory was a big one for the Lakers as they move forward.
“They [Iron Rangers] beat us the last time we played here at home, so it is a good feeling to come back and win like this,” the 20-year-old Fort Frances native remarked.
“It shows that we have a lot of heart, and we are not just going to lay down and die,” he stressed.
Brodersen and Jordan Christianson also scored for the Lakers in the win.
The Iron Rangers, meanwhile, were led by a pair of goals from Trevor Hoth and one from Tyler Tuneberg.
“We can’t hang our heads about this one for too long,” stressed Iron Rangers’ head coach Chris Walby.
“One of the things that the guys learned from a loss like is that one face-off or one shift can cost you the game,” he added.
“That is what happened tonight.”
Following tonight’s game in Dryden, the Lakers then will host the Ice Dogs in a pair of games here this Friday and again on Tuesday.
“We have four things fuelling our fire right now,” Strachan noted.
“The biggest is to finish in second place and to reach a goal that we have for wins that the players have set.
“But we also want to believe in our level of play, and limit our mistakes on defence and play strong,” he added.
“If we can keep this focus up and continue to play our game, I believe we can do well in these three games.”
