Jamie Mountain
If only they could have harnessed the magic from their last triumph down in Thief River Falls.
But it was a much different result this time around for the Fort Frances Lakers as the first-place Norskies cruised to a 6-2 victory Friday night at the Ralph Engelstad Arena.
The Lakers were just under a week removed from a 2-1 shootout win there back on Jan. 27 but have since lost three-straight games.
Michael Johnson notched a goal and added a pair of helpers to pace the Norskies’ onslaught.
Johnson opened the scoring just 40 seconds into the game when he buried his ninth marker of the season.
Alec Daman then put the Norskies up by a pair just over five minutes later.
The Lakers got one back midway through the frame off of the stick of Adam Withers, who extended his point streak to five games.
Then after Cody Aarvig had put the home side up 3-1 at 14:24, Withers replied for the Lakers just 24 seconds later for his seventh goal of the campaign.
But Connor Bowey connected during a power play at 5:52 of the second before Aslan Akervik scored 11 minutes later to make it 5-2.
Parker Simonson capped the scoring at 13:22 of the third with his 32nd of the season, which ties him with Jacen Bracko of the Dryden GM Ice Dogs for the SIJHL lead.
Jackson Nelson made 29 saves in earning the win while Brett Akins turned aside 26 attempts in a losing cause.
Shots on goal favoured the Lakers by a 31-26 margin.
The fifth-place Lakers (11-25-1-4) are next in action this Friday (Feb. 9) when they host the third-place Thunder Bay North Stars (27-11-3-0 at 7:30 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
Then they’ll cap the week with back-to-back games against the fourth-place English River Miners (19-17-0-4) on Saturday and Sunday at the Cochenour Arena.
Thief River Falls (33-5-0-2) still leads the way while Dryden (28-5-6-1) sits close behind in second place.
The Minnesota Iron Rangers (3-34-1-2) remain mired in the league basement.
