Staff
Saturday’s final pre-Christmas game for the Fort Frances Lakers had a little bit of everything—and, most importantly for the home side, a happy ending.
Dylan Robertson had the only goal in what turned into a five-round shootout as the Lakers nipped the Thunder Bay North Stars 5-4 at the Ice For Kids Arena.
Fort Frances (22-7-1) coughed up leads of 3-0 and 4-1, but Robertson’s nifty double-deke on North Stars’ goalie P.D. Melgoza was enough to give the Lakers their fifth-straight win and 13th in their last 15 games.
Meanwhile, with its second-straight loss and fifth in six games, Thunder Bay (18-11-4) fell five points behind Fort Frances in the race for top spot in the SIJHL, with the Lakers also holding three games in hand.
Wyatt Cota, Miles Nolan (power play), and Bryson Jasper all lit the lamp before the 11-minute mark of the first period to give the Lakers another quick start.
Matthias Gardiman’s power-play goal for Thunder Bay 44 seconds into the second was countered 29 seconds later by Colton Spicer’s goal.
But the visitors started chipping away after that.
After Avery Siau beat Lakers’ starter Pierce Dushenko twice in less than a minute, Dushenko was replaced by Nathan Park after appearing to suffer either an injury or illness as he sat hunched over on the bench pressing his hand against his stomach.
Tim Cavar then beat Park on the power-play to make it a one-goal game by the second intermission.
The contest turned vicious seven minutes into the third when Mitchell Caruso plowed into Spicer in front of the North Stars’ net, knocking Spicer out cold and leaving him down on the ice for several minutes.
While a penalty was not called initially, the on-ice officials conferred and eventually issued a five-minute major and game misconduct to Caruso.
Spicer nearly collapsed again upon being helped to his feet, and had to be supported by three teammates to make it off the ice and to the dressing room.
His condition, or how long he might be out of the lineup, was not known as of press time.
The Lakers—perhaps shaken by the injury to Spicer—failed to capitalize on the extended power play.
That enabled the North Stars to cash in on their own man advantage later in the frame.
Carter Chorney was cited for his third penalty of the night—a double minor for high-sticking on Siau, which was elevated from a two-minute infraction after Siau did everything but impale himself to show proof of blood to the initially-disbelieving referee, who finally changed his mind.
Nicholas Nigro fired home Bradley Belisle’s pass into the open side of the net at 14:43 for the tying goal behind Dushenko, who recovered from his ailment well enough to return to the net at 12:07 of the third.
Overtime solved nothing, as did the first four rounds of the shootout—with Dushenko and Melgoza turning aside one shooter after another.
Robertson finally broke through for his goal, and the Lakers’ fans went home smiling after Dushenko shut the door on Kenny Turner to end the shootout.
The Lakers are now off until Jan. 3, when the Dryden GM Ice Dogs come to town.
