Joey Payeur
Most nights last season, the post-game scene in the Fort Frances Lakers’ home dressing room was one of loud music and merriment.
So far this year, the pulsing beats and hearty laughter have been non-existent.
Rather, it was the English Miners raising the roof here Tuesday night after snapping a 24-game losing streak to the Lakers (dating back to the 2014-15 season) with a 5-2 triumph at the Ice For Kids Arena.
Going 4-for-10 on the power play was the difference as the Miners (1-1) scored three unanswered goals after the Lakers (0-2) had fought back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game.
“When you give a team that many opportunities with the man advantage, and not stick with your systems on the penalty kill, you’re going to have breakdowns,” noted Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan, whose own team came up empty on all eight of its power plays.
“We didn’t have a whole lot of life and they exposed the middle of the ice on us, which shouldn’t happen in our system,” he added.
Veteran Dylan Kooner, wearing the ‘C’ in the interim until Strachan officially picks a team captain, wasn’t dodging responsibility for his role in the setback.
“Our big trouble has been staying disciplined,” he remarked.
“I had three penalties myself so I can’t say much about anybody else.”
The Miners opened the scoring on a power-play tally by Trevor Pereverzoff at 12:23 of the first, then went up 2-0 on Alex McPhee’s goal at 18:14.
Tyler Malpass single-handedly evened things up.
He first netted a feed from Jared Virtanen into a yawning cage after Virtanen made a nifty stickhandling move on his defender and had Miners’ goalie Michael Lenko out of position.
Malpass then used some great hand-eye co-ordination to reel in the puck after it bounced high and zipped a shot past Lenko only 24 seconds into the second period.
But penalty woes struck almost immediately afterward as Malpass (roughing) and Julian Uhryniuk (holding) were sent off 35 seconds apart.
Sidney Gladue capitalized on the 5-on-3 chance as he knocked down the puck and put it in at 2:16 after Ryder Prue’s initial shot at the side of the net was blocked by Lakers’ goalie Ryan Wagner’s stick.
Morgan Scriber and Pereverzoff added power-play goals before the end of the period.
Wagner was replaced by Brandon Bodnar to begin the third.
Less than a minute into the final frame, Lakers’ defenceman Jun Yi (Frank) Zhong was handed a five-minute match penalty and game misconduct for attempt to injure and abuse of an official after contacting one of the referees during a line change.
“I didn’t really see what happened but there was definitely no intent to hit the referee,” insisted Strachan, who will await word on what likely will be some form of league suspension for Zhong.
“He just turned quickly and the referee was staring at his feet.
“If you were a player who had intent, would you apologize to the guy right after it happened?” Strachan asked.
Lakers’ defenceman Matt Bruinsma made his season debut Tuesday night after missing the team’s first game with an upper-body injury.
Meanwhile, forward Jacob Longmore (concussion) should be ready for the Lakers’ next game while goalie Billy Gorn (groin) is close to returning .
But the return of defenceman Bryce Patterson (wrist) still is several weeks away.
The Lakers next will host the Thunder Bay North Stars (1-0) for a doubleheader this weekend.
Saturday’s game begins at 7:30 p.m., with Sunday’s game set for an unusual start time of 4:45 p.m.
Children 12 and under will be admitted free to Sunday’s game if accompanied by an adult.
