Staff
It was a tough weekend for the Fort Frances Lakers as they lost a pair of games.
The Thief River Falls Norskies used a three-goal third period to pull out a 4-1 win Saturday night while the Thunder Bay North Stars rallied for a 6-4 victory here the previous night.
The Norskies (4-6-2-0) broke open a tie game with a trio of third-period tallies to beat the Lakers in front of a SIJHL season-high 2,067 fans at the Ralph Engelstad Arena.
Fort Frances (5-7-0-0) got on the board first as defenceman Colton Bodnar connected late in the opening frame.
Alec Daman drew the Norskies even with the lone marker of the second period, which came at 6:50.
Daman then added another four-and-half-minutes into the third, which proved to be the eventual game-winner.
Nick Harder added some insurance for Thief River Falls at 17:30 before Mason McIntosh iced it with an empty-netter with 34 seconds to go.
Both Daman and McIntosh finished with three-point nights for the Norskies.
Shots on goal favoured the Norskies by a 32-28 margin, with Bailey Schmitz picking up the win and Matt Booth suffering the loss.
On Friday night, the SIJHL-leading Thunder Bay North Stars (10-1-1) used a five-goal third period to rally past the Lakers at the Ice For Kids Arena.
It was the Lakers who pressed the pace in the opening 20 minutes, outshooting Thunder Bay 17-8.
The hosts finally were rewarded when Kirk Coppock opened the scoring at 14:08 when he snapped a wrister past North Stars’ goalie Brock Aiken from the slot.
The visitors drew even midway through the second when Keighan Gerrie walked around the Lakers’ defence and fired a shot that beat Jacob Gnidziejko five-hole during a man-advantage.
The marker was Gerrie’s league-leading 14th of the season.
Chase Robideau put the home side back on top 2-1 at 15:22 when he fired home a centering pass from the corner from Anthony Atonelli, with Brett Hahkala drawing the secondary assist.
It stayed that way until the six-minute mark of third when Alex Maticic knotted it 2-2 with his first goal of the season.
But showing some resilience, the Lakers went back on top again just 52 seconds later when Reece Hopfner rifled a laser top-shelf on Aiken to make it 3-2.
The visitors then clicked three times in rapid succession to go in front for good, with Jonathan Kilby, Michael Vecchio, and Robert McCollum all connecting.
Isaac Baron pulled Fort Frances to within one with just 3:46 to go in regulation after he banked a shot in off Aiken from the right side of the net.
But Maticic sealed the North Stars’ victory with an empty-netter that he banked off the boards and down the ice from the defensive end with just 21 seconds to go.
Aiken made 42 saves to earn the win while Gnidziejko faced 34 shots in taking the loss.
The fourth-place Lakers next are in action this Wednesday when they face the fifth-place Norskies at 7 p.m. again at the Ralph Engelstad Arena.
The Lakers then will cap the week with a pair of home games–the first coming Friday night when they host the last-place Minnesota Iron Rangers (2-12-0-0) before welcoming the Norskies the following night.
Both games are 7:30 p.m. starts.
