Joey Payeur
The game wasn’t entirely beautiful but at the end of it, the Fort Frances Lakers were a perfect 10.
A four-goal first period provided the Lakers all the spark they needed in a 6-2 win over the visiting Wisconsin Wilderness on Saturday night.
The victory was the 10th-straight for the Lakers (11-1-0-1) and extended their lead atop the SIJHL to six points over the second-place Thunder Bay North Stars (8-1-0-1).
The Stars do hold three games in hand.
“It’s definitely a huge accomplishment for our hockey team,” Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan said about his squad’s double-digit winning streak.
“We started the season with a loss, bounced back with a big win, and lost in a shootout,” he noted.
“Since then, we’ve been
focused in the right direction.
“I think we got our eyes opened in the first three games and realized what we need to do as a team,” said Strachan.
Mason Meyer, who led the Lakers’ offence with a goal and two assists Saturday night, said a variety of factors have contributed to their sizzling stretch.
“We’re getting lots of scoring, we’re playing good defence, our power play is clicking, and our penalty killing is helping us win games,” said Meyer, who scored with the man-advantage at 16:33 of the first period and now is second in team scoring with 16 points.
“Some of the teams we have to work a little harder to get up for,” he admitted. “We figured more teams would be a little stronger at this point.
“But [Strachan] really fires us up well before games.”
Colton Spicer (fourth), Torrin Grange (fifth), Kevin Kurm (fourth), and Meyer (seventh) all beat Wilderness goalie Luke Thompson, who again looked like he was the last Texan defending the Alamo with his team being outshot 24-4 in the first and 53-17 overall.
“Our defence came out really strong in the first,” noted Lakers’ blueliner Tanner Fricke, who assisted on Spicer’s goal.
“We’re gradually getting better in our defensive zone,” he added. “We’re just keeping it simple.”
After a scoreless second, Wisconsin got on the board thanks to Alex Arnold’s power-play goal at 2:49 of the third.
The Lakers went back up by four at 10:07 with a man-advantage tally that appeared to be put in by Riley Daly.
It originally was credited to Kyle Lipinski but later awarded to Bryce Lipinski for his sixth of the season.
Zach Kraft’s bullet shot under the crossbar pulled the Wilderness back within three at 17:07.
But Lucas DeBenedet capped the scoring 1:10 later with his soft wrist shot that trickled under an exhausted Thompson for his 12th of the campaign—tying him for the SIJHL lead with Trevor Hoth of the Minnesota Iron Rangers.
Ryan Ferguson made 15 saves to earn the win while Thompson had 47 stops.
After the game, dejected Wilderness head coach Ian Jensen sat alone in the stands with his thoughts, trying to absorb his last-place team’s eighth-straight loss.
“We talked before the game about how Fort Frances likes to occupy the centre of the ice in the slot at the top of the circles,” said Jensen.
“We told the guys don’t worry about them if they’re behind the net. They can’t do any damage from there,” he added.
“But we didn’t take care of the centre of the ice in the first.”
The Lakers now play their next three games—and six of their next seven—on the road, starting with a clash Wednesday night against the Dryden Ice Dogs.
Fort Frances’ next home game is slated for Thursday, Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m., when the Ice Dogs visit the Ice For Kids Arena.
