Joey Payeur
Welcome back, Jack. See you later, Norskies.
Jack Bernie scored just 32 seconds into his first game since returning from injury, then Dylan Kooner added another 22 seconds later.
Goalie Brandon Bodnar and the rest of the Fort Frances Lakers took it from there in a 3-2 victory over the Thief River Falls Norskies here Saturday night to capture their first-round, best-of-five “Survivor Series” by a 3-1 margin.
The Lakers now face the Dryden GM Ice Dogs in a best-of-seven semi-final showdown.
“Tyler Malpass sent the puck ahead and it took a lucky bounce,” recalled Bernie, who missed the first three games of the series after hurting his shoulder in the regular-season finale against the Ice Dogs.
“You take anything you can get.”
Bernie chased down the loose puck and walked in alone before a quick move to the backhand that beat Norskies’ goalie Ryan Buttazzoni top shelf.
“We talked about it in our video sessions that [Buttazzoni] likes to drop down quickly,” noted Bernie.
“I was just trying to get a good shot off.”
The two-goal outburst in the game’s opening minute was a complete turnaround from Friday night’s 6-0 loss by the
Lakers, who had a chance to sweep the series after taking the first two games in Thief River Falls against the expansion Norskies.
“[Friday] night . . . that’s playoffs for you,” Bernie shrugged.
“It’s how you answer those situations,” he added.
“I think the way we answered gives us a big boost going into the series with Dryden.”
Ian Jarvis scored on the power-play at 16:34 of the first for a 3-0 lead.
It stayed that way deep into the third period–thanks, in large part, to Bodnar being spectacular once again with 46 saves a day after being yanked early in the second in Friday’s loss.
“[Saturday] was a new day. You have to move on from it,” reasoned Bodnar, who stopped 168 out of 178 shots in the series for a .944 save percentage.
“We got off to the big start and got those goals in the first minute, and it set the tone.”
Tommy Stang fired a shot off of a skate in front and in at 15:25, then Jared Pederson tracked down the rebound of his own shot for another tally 1:04 later.
But the Norskies couldn’t apply any serious pressure even with Buttazzoni on the bench for an extra attacker with 1:45 to go.
“We were probably a little anxious to sweep,” Kooner said about the previous night’s meltdown.
“We got away from our game,” he noted. “It was a wake-up call.”
Parker Simonson and Michael Johnson scored 24 seconds apart late in the first period Friday, then Tyler Chalupsky chased Bodnar with his goal at 2:33 of the second.
Simonson and Peter Grytdahl also tallied before the end of the second, with Connor Bowey netting the lone goal of the third.
Next up are the Ice Dogs, who finished atop the SIJHL standings first with an outstanding 45-7-4 record–26 points better than the second-place Thunder Bay North Stars, who will face the English River Miners in the other semi-final.
The Ice Dogs, who fell to the Lakers in the SIJHL final the past two season, also led the league by a wide margin in most goals scored (297) and fewest goals allowed (148).
They also boast, among others, SIJHL scoring champ Braeden Allkins (97 points) and the league’s top goalie in Patrick Zubick (21-4-3).
“We have to make sure our compete level is the same as theirs and match their intensity nightly,” said Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan.
“They were No. 1 in the league this year for a reason,” he noted. “They were, by far, the superior team.”
The stats may agree but Bernie’s not buying it.
“They’re a really good team and we have to bring our ‘A’-game every night,” he stressed.
“But we can’t tell ourselves they’re better than us.”
The schedule for the series was unavailable as of press time today.
