Staff
Three days in and it already was an unhappy New Year for the Fort Frances Lakers.
Clayton Brown beat Brandon Bodnar to finish an odd-man rush at 2:37 of overtime to give the Minnesota Iron Rangers a 5-4 win in SIJHL action Tuesday night at the Ice For Kids Arena.
Lakers’ defenceman Ryan Gazich carried the puck around the Minnesota net, but turned it over to former Fort blueliner Isaiah Olschewske.
He zipped a pass ahead to Logan Froberg to set up a 2-on-1 breakout, with Froberg hitting Brown right on the tape with the centering pass.
Brown froze Bodnar for a split second, then went forehand to backhand before putting the puck over Bodnar for the game-winner.
It was the first victory in four games for the last-place Iron Rangers (6-22-2) and just their second win in six meetings with the Lakers this season—both coming in overtime.
Meanwhile, the Lakers (11-11-2-3) had their two-game winning streak snapped and blew a chance to break a tie with the English River Miners (12-12-1-2) for fourth place.
In both teams’ first game following the two-week holiday break, it was Fort Frances looking like it was the one with the “bus legs” instead of the visitors as Minnesota jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first.
Jack Stensgard sandwiched goals at 5:06 (power play) and 9:35 around a man-advantage marker by Mark Sanchez at 7:17.
The Lakers sprang to life in the second period with Dylan Kooner lighting the lamp just 13 seconds into the frame.
Tyler Malpass then made it a one-goal game at 4:16.
Ian Jarvis stuffed home a rebound at 4:58 of the third to tie the score before Gazich’s blast from the top of the right circle on another power play at 8:23 made it four-straight goals for the hosts.
But an interference penalty taken by Tanner Garnham 160 feet away from the Lakers’ net proved costly as just eight seconds into the man advantage, Froberg rapped home a rebound of Cole Thompson’s initial shot to knot the game at 4-4.
Iron Rangers’ goalie Jackson Nelson kept it that way with a stellar glove save on Cody Merritt’s lightning-quick wrister from the slot with less than three minutes left in regulation time.
Nelson then did it again early in the overtime—staying with Matt Tustin just long enough to get a toe on the Laker forward’s shot and deflect it wide.
Gazich, Brandon Zajicek, and Domi Allan all played their first games after returning from various injuries while Austin Petrie was back in the lineup following a pre-Christmas illness.
The Lakers next will try to record a win against the lone team they have yet to beat this season when the second-place Thunder Bay North Stars (22-7-2) visit the Ice For Kids Arena tomorrow at 7:30 p.m.
Then they’ll have to contend with the league’s top-ranked offence of the first-place Dryden GM Ice Dogs (24-4-3) in a road game Saturday.
In related news, Lakers’ forward Jared Virtanen was chosen as the SIJHL’s CCM Hockey performer-of-the-month for December.
The 20-year-old from Abbotsford, B.C. had at least one point in all seven games he played last month—racking up three goals and 17 assists.
