Jamie Mountain
It’s been a difficult season for the Fort Frances Lakers, to say the least.
Things were muddied even further over the weekend as the squad was on the losing end of all three of its games and now has dropped six-straight overall.
The Thunder Bay North Stars, the hottest team in the SIJHL right now having won 13-straight, set the tone for the miserable weekend for the Lakers by blanking them 4-0 on Friday night at the Ice For Kids Arena.
Kyle Auger, Justin Muir, Alex Maticic, and Avery Siau provided the North Stars’ offence while former Laker Brandon Bodnar earned his SIJHL-leading fifth shutout–turning aside all 32 shots fired his way.
Ismael Ralsten made 33 stops in defeat.
“I don’t think we had a bad game out there,” said Lakers’ captain Julian Uhryniuk, who returned to the lineup Friday night after missing the previous eight games with an upper-body injury.
“I thought tonight we could have had just a little more urgency and hound the puck a little bit more,” he noted
“Especially in the offensive zone, and getting guys to the net and trying to create some more scoring chances.”
As has been the case in games he’s started against his old team, Bodnar again was a thorn in the Lakers’ side.
“He’s especially [good] when he comes in here to his hometown rink, where he grew up, and he stands on his head,” Uhryniuk said about the difficulty of scoring on Bodnar.
“I don’t think we’ve had a game this year where he’s been in net here and he hasn’t played well and to his full potential.
“I think he just plays well here and he’s a great goaltender, and we just gotta get him moving [in the future], that’s for sure,” he added.
The Lakers then capped their busy weekend with back-to-back games against the English River Miners at the Cochenour Arena.
On Saturday night, Lakers’ affiliate player James Gushulak’s first two SIJHL goals weren’t enough as the Miners escaped with a late 5-4 win.
With the squads knotted 4-4 late in the third period, Jacob Siebenga notched his 10th of the season with just 27 seconds to go to send English River to the victory.
Ralsten again made 33 stops in a losing cause.
“I thought James Gushulak looked more comfortable and confident in the games,” Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan lauded yesterday.
Then on Sunday, Siebenga was a force again for the Miners, netting a goal and adding five helpers to help lead them to a 7-3 win.
Nick Lucas, Jack Bernie, and Ian Jarvis all tallied for the Lakers while Ralsten again was tagged with the loss, finishing with 30 saves.
“Adam Withers continues to stand out for us, Jack Bernie worked hard, Jaedin Ness shows up every game, and I thought Nick Lucas played with the intensity and jam we need him to in Sunday’s game, and [he] was effective because of it,” Strachan noted.
As the season winds down, what can the Lakers do to ensure they don’t fall into another lengthy slump like they endured from November until January?
“[We] have to gut through it, keep pushing ahead, and not let it get to us,” Strachan stressed.
“[We need to] remain positive [that] we are doing a lot of things right and, [also] our special teams needs to be good,” he added.
The Lakers (11-28-1-4) are back in action tonight in Hoyt Lakes against the last-place Minnesota Iron Rangers (4-36-1-2).
Then they kick off a four-game homestand Friday night, starting with fourth-place English River (21-17-0-4) making a visit to the Ice For Kids Arena at 7:30 p.m.
Fort Frances then will host the second-place Dryden GM Ice Dogs (29-5-6-2) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. before squaring off against the Iron Rangers again in a Family Day (Feb. 19) matinee at 2 p.m.
Then they’ll wrap up the homestand next Friday (Feb. 23) at 7:30 p.m. against the Miners.
“The Iron Rangers are in a similar situation to us as they are battling for wins,” said Strachan.
“We will have to shut down their top guys’ speed and skill.
“We need to outwork the Miners and attack their defence [because] they work hard for 60 minutes [and] we need to battle with them for that time,” he added.
“The Ice Dogs are in a battle for first place [so] we need to be at our best, be simple, not have turnovers in the middle [of the ice], defend well, and shut their top guys down,” he stressed.
