Joey Payeur
The SIJHL had its own “David and Goliath” story Tuesday night.
Except in this one, the big guy dodged the rock and then tied the underdog in knots with his own slingshot.
Down 4-1 midway through the game, the Fort Frances Lakers roared back with six unanswered goals to outgun the Wisconsin Wilderness 7-4 in Spooner to run their winning streak to 13 games while handing the Wilderness their 11th-straight loss.
“After we went down 4-1, I didn’t see or hear anyone quitting,” noted Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan.
“We kept playing and knew there was a lot of time,” he added.
The Wilderness (1-12), who once again were reduced to just 14 skaters due to injuries, jumped out to a startling 2-0 lead over the Lakers (14-1-0-1) in front of a home crowd which had seen their squad go 0-5 there so far this season.
Darrick Howard at 12:20 and Tanner Vinson at 15:57 (power play) got Wisconsin its first lead against Fort Frances this season, with Colton Spicer replying at 18:33 to make it 2-1 after the first.
Danny Toycen brought a sudden end to Lakers’ goalie Ryan Ferguson’s night with his goal at 6:28, causing Strachan to switch to the league’s reigning player-of-the-week, Jordan Cartney, to shake things up.
“By no means was it Ryan’s fault,” Strachan stressed.
“We were down,” he noted. “I just wanted to change things up to see if our game changed any.”
In the short term, the move appeared to backfire as Alex Rezansoff’s man-advantage marker at 9:08 stretched the lead to 4-1.
But Brandon Sinclair, who had a team-high three points, kicked off the Lakers’ comeback 1:33 later with a power-play goal of his own that Strachan described as a “highlight reel” play.
“It was a nice seam pass down to the back door from Lyndon Lipinski,” Strachan said about Sinclair’s second of the season, both coming against Wisconsin.
“Brandon waited the goalie out and put it top shelf over him. It was a very nice goal that lifted the bench and got the ball rolling.
“He has scored two very nice goals in that arena now,” Strachan added.
SIJHL scoring leader Lucas DeBenedet took the torch from Sinclair and burned Thompson twice in 35 seconds later in the frame to give him a league-best 14 goals and the Lakers a 4-4 tie.
The momentum carried over into the third, with Brent Aiken netting the eventual game-winner unassisted at 2:13 for his fourth goal of the campaign.
Spicer’s second of the game at 4:36—his seventh in seven games since rejoining the Lakers—made it 6-4 before Kevin Kurm tacked on a power-play goal into an empty net with 35 seconds to go for his seventh of the season.
Lipinski and Cody Wickstrom each had two assists.
Officially, Fort Frances outshot Wisconsin 51-43, although Strachan had his doubts about the Wilderness’ total.
Cartney earned the win in net while Thompson made 45 saves in the loss.
The Lakers played without injured defenceman John Dora while forward Torrin Grange sat out his one-game suspension for a checking-from-behind penalty and game misconduct in the final stages of the Fort’s 4-2 win over the English River Miners in Ear Falls this past Saturday.
Fort Frances may face a similar situation heading into tonight’s clash with the Dryden Ice Dogs (9-10) at the Ice For Kids Arena at 7:30 p.m.
Forward Bryce Lipinski and an unidentified Wilderness player each received game misconducts with less than 10 minutes to play—meaning an automatic one-game suspension for each.
“I believe Dryden is a solid team and every time you play them, you better be at your best,” Strachan warned.
“They have some very strong offensive players and firepower, and when they get healthy and everyone back, they will be a force to be reckoned with.”
Tickets also will be sold tonight for the benefit dinner being held for Lakers’ assistant coach, assistant general manager, and director of scouting Grant Perreault, who was diagnosed with colon cancer last month.
The dinner will be held Nov. 23 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. at the Couchiching multi-use facility.
The cost is $10 for adults and $7 for kids 10 and under.
Anyone wanting to donate to Perreault’s cause, but who cannot attend the dinner, also can do so at tonight’s game.
