Joey Payeur
Former world heavyweight boxing champ “Iron” Mike Tyson once said everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.
The Fort Frances Lakers took another angle and came up with an effective plan Saturday after getting nailed by haymaker thrown the previous night by the Thief River Norskies.
Simply put: score lots early and hold the line the rest of the way.
Jack Bernie and Dylan Kooner lit the lamp before the game was a minute old, and Brandon Bodnar’s 46 saves were enough to preserve a 3-2 win at the Ice For Kids Arena as the fifth-place Lakers dispatched the fourth-place Norskies 3-1 in their first-round, best-of-five “Survivor Series.”
The Lakers managed to find their mojo again following a 6-0 thrashing handed to them by Thief River Falls just 24 hours earlier.
“[Friday] night . . . that’s playoffs for you,” said Bernie, who missed the first three games of the series with a shoulder injury but tallied just 32 seconds into Game 4 by chasing down a loose puck and freezing Norskies’ goalie Ryan Buttazzoni with a deke to the backhand before shovelling the puck upstairs.
“It’s how you answer those situations,” he noted.
“I think the way we answered gives us a big boost going into the series with Dryden.”
That would be the first-place Dryden GM Ice Dogs (45-7-4), who likely are relishing the chance at payback for losing the final to the three-time defending champion Lakers (24-25-3-4) the past two seasons.
Their best-of-seven semi-final clash starts tonight in Dryden, with Game 2 also there tomorrow.
Fort Frances then will Game 3 on Saturday at 7:30 p.m., with Game 4 set for here Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
Game 5, if necessary, would be back in Dryden on April 7, with Game 6 (if needed) to be played here April 10.
Should the series go the distance, Game 7 would be back in Dryden on April 12.
Kooner, who doubled the Lakers’ lead just 22 seconds after Bernie scored, admitting the squad may have got a little ahead of itself entering Game 3 after taking the first two games in Thief River Falls by scores of 3-1 and 5-4 in overtime despite being massively outshot both nights.
“We were probably a little anxious to sweep,” said the Lakers’ captain, who on Monday was named to the SIJHL CCM Hockey 2nd all-star team while linemate Jared Virtanen made the 1st all-star team.
“We got away from our game,” Kooner noted. “It was a wake-up call.”
Parker Simonson had two goals for the Norskies in Game 3, with Michael Johnson, Tyler Chalupsky, Peter Grytdahl, and Connor Bowey adding one apiece.
Ian Jarvis added to the Lakers’ lead at 16:34 of the first period Saturday after a great combined effort by him and Brandon Zajicek to keep the puck in at the Norskies’ blueline during a power play.
Zajicek feathered a pass to Jarvis, who blasted away from the left circle and roofed it over Buttazzoni’s glove.
The second period, as was most of the series, became a showcase for Bodnar between the pipes.
The 19-year-old from Fort Frances was pulled early in the second period of Game 3 after giving up three goals on 22 shots–not as punishment but out of his coach’s sense of preservation.
“I thought we were in for a long night at that point and I didn’t want to put ‘Bods’ through it,” explained head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan, who received an honourable mention as all-star general manager while Lakers’ blueliner Maverick Lynes got the same recognition on defence.
“I talked with him after the second period and told him the decision to take him out wasn’t because of his performance, but to get something going for us,” added Strachan.
“Tonight [Saturday], he showed that when he’s focused and prepared, and gets into the right state of mind, he’s tough to beat.”
Bodnar, who made 52 and 51 saves in the two games down in Thief River Falls, didn’t let the early hook Friday keep him in a funk.
“[Saturday] was a new day,” he reasoned. “You have to move on from it.
“We got off to the big start and got those goals in the first minute, and it set the tone.”
Bad luck had the Lakers sputtering towards the finish line Saturday.
Tommy Stang’s shot nicked off a skate in front and eluded Bodnar at 15:25 of the third.
Jared Pederson then smashed a shot high off the end boards that took a lucky bounce and went right back in front of the net for him to deposit 1:04 later.
Bodnar slammed the door after that–even with Buttazzoni on the bench for an extra attacker for the final 1:45.
“‘Bods’ was unreal. We owe these three wins to him,” stressed Kooner.
“I haven’t seen him play like that in two years of knowing him, and he’s going to be fired up to play Dryden and show he’s one of the top goalies in the league, too.”
The Ice Dogs were a runaway train on offence this season, easily leading the league with 297 goals scored while allowing the fewest (148).
The fuel for Dryden’s engine is supplied by Braeden Allkins, who was named the SIJHL Mallon’s Corporate Impressions/Play It Again Sports Most Valuable Player yesterday after leading the league in goals (53) and points (97).
But count Bodnar and Bernie among those not believing the hype–despite Dryden holding an 8-1-1 advantage in the season series with the Lakers.
“Dryden is very beatable,” Bodnar proclaimed. “We know we can win and it can happen.
“They’re a really good team and we have to bring our ‘A’-game every night,” noted Bernie.
“But we can’t tell ourselves they’re better than us.”
The Lakers hope to have forward Julian Uhryniuk (concussion) back sometime during the series.
But forward Dawson Waddell and defenceman Matt Cheetham remain sidelined indefinitely with their respective knee injuries.
The other semi-final series pits the second-place Thunder Bay North Stars (31-19-6) against third-place English River (31-21-1-3).
That series doesn’t start until Saturday in Thunder Bay.
