Jamie Mountain
The Fort Frances Lakers must have had their recent disappointments still fresh in mind when they laced up against the host Thief River Falls Norskies on Saturday night.
After suffering a 7-1 rout to the Norskies here last Tuesday, the Lakers exacted some revenge on the SIJHL leaders by earning a 2-1 shootout win at the Ralph Engelstad Arena.
The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for Fort Frances.
Adam Withers scored in regulation time, then Jaedin Ness notched the only goal in the shootout to lead the Lakers to just their 11th win of the season.
After a scoreless first period, Withers opened the scoring with his fourth marker as a Laker at 11:03 of the second.
Christian Ward and Jack Bernie drew the assists.
Parker Simonson netted his SIJHL-leading 30th goal on a power play 11:42 of the third to knot it 1-1 and earn his squad a point.
When overtime solved nothing, the game moved to the shootout.
The first six shooters all were stopped before Ness buried one to put the Lakers ahead.
Simonson then was stoned by Lakers’ goalie Brett Akins to earn the win.
Akins was outstanding between the pipes, finishing with 38 stops.
Bailey Schmitz made 23 saves in taking the loss.
Shots on goal favoured Thief River Falls by a 39-24 margin.
That result came as a huge surprise, given the fact the Lakers were less than 24 hours removed from a 7-3 beatdown at the hands of the Thunder Bay North Stars on Friday night at the Ice For Kids Arena.
Avery Siau, Kyle Auger, Brendan Gillis, and Keighan Gerrie all notched a goal and an assist to pace Thunder Bay’s attack.
Noah Loveday, Ward, and Ness tallied for the Lakers in a losing cause.
Thunder Bay jumped out to a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes on goals from Alex Leonidas on the power play (5:17) and Gerrie (15:33).
The Lakers fought back, though, getting a strike from Loveday just 51 seconds into the second before Ward tied it at 7:07.
But that success was short-lived as Siau (short-handed), Auger, Joe Newhouse, and Troy Sherman (18:21) all connected in an eight-minute span to extend the North Stars’ lead to 6-2 through 40 minutes.
Gillis pushed it to 7-2 with 4:30 to go in the third.
Ness fired a shot top-shelf past former Laker Brandon Bodnar at 17:53 for his 19th of the season to make it 7-3, but that was as close as the Lakers would get.
Ismael Ralsten took the loss, registering 38 stops.
Bodnar made 30 saves to earn the win.
Shots on goal favoured the North Stars by a 45-33 margin.
Up next, the fifth-place Lakers (11-23-1-3) will host the SIJHL’s annual “Showcase” at the Ice For Kids Arena that runs tomorrow and Wednesday.
Tomorrow’s games will see the Minnesota Iron Rangers facing the Dryden GM Ice Dogs at 1 p.m., followed by the English River Miners against the Norskies at 4:15 p.m.
The Lakers and North Stars then will cap the day at 7:30 p.m.
On Wednesday, the North Stars will take on the Miners at 1 p.m., followed by the Norskies battling the Iron Rangers at 4:15 p.m.
The Lakers then will face the Ice Dogs at 7:30 p.m.
The Norskies (30-4-0-2) continue to lead the SIJHL with 62 points.
Dryden (26-3-6-1) is right behind with 59 while the North Stars (23-11-3-0) sit in third with 49.
English River (17-15-0-4) occupies fourth place with 38 point, with the Iron Rangers (3-31-1-2) remaining in the basement with just nine.
