Joey Payeur
Billy Gorn won’t forget his first official game as a Fort Frances Laker.
Neither will his head coach and general manager going forward when it comes to solving his goaltending puzzle.
Gorn turned aside 36 shots in his season debut to backstop the three-time defending SIJHL champs to a long-awaited first win of the 2017-17 regular-season—a 4-2 victory over the Minnesota Iron Rangers on Saturday down in Hoyt Lakes.
“I thought Billy was good for us,” said Wayne Strachan, whose team ended a four-game winless streak—a longer drought than they had at any time last season.
“He made saves we needed him to and when we needed a big one, he stepped up and came up big for us,” he lauded.
“He gave us a chance to compete for the victory and that is what we needed to have success.
“He didn’t give a lot of rebounds out, and I will say our defensive game overall was much better in front of him,” added Strachan, who still had four goalies in his stable with veteran Brandon Bodnar and newcomers Ryan Wagner and Dylan Ossachuk.
“As a [coaching] staff, we will discuss a few lineup moves in the next few days [but] Billy’s emergence tonight [Saturday] will definitely be looked at and our goalie situation talked about.”
The 19-year-old netminder was perfect over the final 40 minutes while the Lakers (1-3-0-1) found another gear as they escaped the SIJHL basement by one point ahead of the Rangers (1-4).
Jack Bernie was another integral part of the Lakers cracking the win column—notching his first points of the season with two goals and an assist.
One of those goals opened the scoring at 4:53 of the first when a good offensive cycle in the Iron Rangers’ zone resulted in Maverick Lynes finding Bernie at the side of the net.
Logan Froberg responded with a short-handed tally at 9:04 before former Laker Isaiah Olschewske put the home side up 2-1 at 13:02.
But the Lakers poured on the pressure in the second period, with Oliver Alcock converting a Bernie pass past Iron Rangers’ goalie Alex Burke at 5:27 to tie the score.
Then after Olschewske was whistled for holding at 17:09 of the third, Bernie’s hard work all game earned him a rare spot on the power-play unit—and he responded with the game-winner with 1:06 left in regulation time.
“I made the switch to put him out there because he was going to the net all night,” noted Strachan.
“Julian [Uhryniuk], Matt [Tustin], and him worked the puck low and to the net area, and then a shot came from the point where there was a rebound and Jack pounced on it and slammed it home.”
It was a performance Strachan helped inspire with a heart-to-heart talk with the Lakers’ veteran earlier in the week.
“I thought Jack had struggled early in the year so I reached out to him to tell him my thoughts,” he recalled.
“I think it hit a nerve and the wake-up button.
“He [Bernie] has worked hard lately in our last two-three games and, as a result, has created more opportunities offensively for us,” Strachan noted.
“His line played well tonight [Saturday] when we could get them out together, and it was good to see as we need Jack and others to start chipping in offensively to win hockey games,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, the special teams’ peaks and valleys continued for the Lakers on Saturday.
Their penalty killing remained strong in denying all seven Iron Rangers’ power plays and sits at 81 percent for the season. But a 1-for-7 power-play night left the Lakers just 5-for-31 overall (16 percent).
Jun Yi (Frank) Zhong had his first two-point game as a Laker, including an empty-netter with five seconds to go to seal the win.
“Frank is a young player still learning,” noted Strachan.
“If we could get him playing consistently defensively, I believe with the skating ability he has and skill set, he could be good to help create points from the back end.
“We were intense jumping on them and the puck, we read the ice well, and cleared pucks when we had the opportunities,” Strachan said about their penalty-killing approach.
“We didn’t give them second and third chances,” he noted. “[And] if they got one [chance], Billy made the save and we cleared the puck or forced them to the outside.”
Strachan conceded the game-winning goal came on the power play.
“However, three things that stick out to me are we do not shoot enough or get quality shots on the power play, [and] when we do shoot, we don’t have the necessary traffic at the net so we give the goalies a perfect view of the puck.
“And we go to the well too often with the same plays and teams to me are zeroing in on it.
“With video nowadays, it’s easy to see,” Strachan remarked.
“I do so I am sure our opponents are breaking it down, as well.”
Forward Jacob Longmore also made his debut as a Laker on Saturday after the 19-year-old from Port Coquitlam, B.C. had been out since training camp with a concussion.
“We wanted to give Jacob a chance tonight [Saturday] and with the number of special teams, his ice was limited,” noted Strachan.
“When he was out, there was times [Ian] Jarvis, him, and [Tanner] Garnham worked well in the offensive end and created some good chances,” he lauded.
“He [Longmore] needs some work on positioning in our end but these are areas we can teach,” Strachan stressed.
“We need him to be a more aggressive, in-your-face type of player.”
On the down side, forward Matt Cheetham may be lost for several weeks due to a wrist injury he suffered Oct. 1 against the Thunder Bay North Stars.
Defenceman Bryce Patterson (wrist) remains out indefinitely while fellow blueliner Mark Richter was given an automatic one-game suspension for fighting in the last 10 minutes of the third period Saturday against Christian Meisinger.
The Lakers are back in action this Friday when they host Thunder Bay (5-2-1) at 7:30 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
