Joey Payeur
With the Fort Frances Lakers and Thunder Bay North Stars delivering one thunderous hit after another, Theoren Fleury must have been getting a little nostalgic for his “Battle of Alberta” days.
The former NHL star, who tormented the Edmonton Oilers a quarter of a century ago as a member of the Calgary Flames during their bitter rivalry, watched Saturday as the Lakers toughed out a 2-1 victory over the Stars at the Ice for Kids Arena in Game 2 of their best-of-seven SIJHL semifinal.
The Lakers head to Thunder Bay for tonight’s Game 3 with a chance to take a stranglehold on the series after taking Game 1 by a 6-2 margin and then following it up with Saturday’s nailbiter which drew the approval of Fleury, who was in the area to speak at the “Mino-aayawin” Youth Wellness Gathering on Couchiching First Nation and did a ceremonial puck drop before the contest.
“Tonight, we had a pretty solid game,” said Lakers general manager and head coach Wayne Strachan, who witnessed his captain, Miles Nolan, deliver the game-winning goal at 17:26 of the second in Game 2 while receiving a superb 28-save performance from Nathan Park.
“It turned into kind of a goaltending battle,” he added.
“It was a bit of a fluke break for them that allowed them to tie it up.
“But we kept our focus, Nolan got a big goal for us and Park had a hell of a third period with some game-saving plays.”
Mason Meyer’s power-play goal at 17:46 was the lone goal of the first to put the Fort in front.
Tim Cavar evened the score at 12:13 of the second when an errant centreing pass by the Lakers slid down the ice and right to Cavar coming off the Thunder Bay bench.
The defenceman, who had only come on because a teammate having to leave the ice due to having a broken stick, ended up with a shorthanded breakaway and beat Park to the stick side.
But just over five minutes later, Marco Romano spied Sam Schultz racing in from the point and fed him the puck.
Schultz was stopped by Stars goalie Eric Mann (38 saves), but Nolan was right there to cash in on the rebound.
Park was magnificent one night after his own 38-stop effort in Game 1, which turned in the Fort’s favour thanks to a four-goal second period.
Nick Minerva, who notched a pair of markers in Game 1 including one with the man-advantage, said the Lakers’ success stemmed from not straying from their pre-series strategy.
“We stuck to our systems pretty well and did pretty much everything Coach asked for,” said the blueliner, who also had an assist in Game 2 and leads the series in scoring with three points in two games.
“With a goalie like Park, we’re going to go far. He’s a difference maker.”
Dylan Kooner (power-play), Carter Chorney, Romano and Meyer had a goal apiece in Game 1.
Daniel McKitrick had a power-play goal and an even-strength marker for the Stars, while Nathaniel Dupuis turned aside 25 shots in a losing cause.
Fort Frances welcomed back Meyer and fellow forwards Colton Spicer and Nolan Ross from injury on Friday.
But the Lakers, who are still missing injured forward Donovan Cousineau, had to make do without two more bodies on Saturday after a pair of Game 1 incidents.
Forward Lucas DeBenedet, who had two assists in Game 1, hurt his leg in the third period when he tried to make a quick move to get around a defender and then had a Stars player land on his leg.
“It was more for precautionary reasons to keep him out,” noted Strachan, who said DeBenedet would be re-evaluated today and that his status for tonight was uncertain.
Meanwhile, defenceman Roshen Jaswal was a healthy scratch after losing his cool with 6:44 to play in the third.
Jaswal received a slashing minor, then an unsportsmanlike conduct minor for protesting the call.
When he continued his diatribe to the officials, he was handed a 10-minute misconduct and ordered to head to the dressing room by one of the two game referees.
“We’re not very happy with the result of his situation,” said Strachan tersely.
“It was an ill-timed lack of composure and it wasn’t just him that had that happen, but we can’t sit everyone,” the coach continued.
“We’re sending a message that we’re not going to stand for it.”
In the other semifinal, the Dryden GM Ice Dogs and Minnesota Iron Rangers traded wins in Hoyt Lakes, Minn., by identical 4-1 scores to leave that series tied 1-1 heading into Game 3 in Dryden tonight.
Dryden took the opener thanks to a three-point night from Blake Berg and two points apiece from league MVP Cole Golka and Jonathan Philley.
Minnesota responded in Game 2 on Saturday with former Laker Devin Tappenden following up his 38 saves in Game 1 with a 33-stop effort in Game 2 to get the win.
The two semifinal winners will meet in the Bill Salonen Cup final, with the survivor of the Minnesota-Dryden series assured a spot in the Dudley Hewitt Cup should the Lakers go on to beat the Stars.
That’s because Fort Frances has an automatic berth in the Dudley Hewitt Cup as the host team, which would make the team they face in the final the SIJHL representative for the tournament.
