Joey Payeur The importance of never underestimating one’s opponent was made crystal clear to the Fort Frances Lakers this past weekend—and they didn’t even have to be on the ice to get the point. In an upset of seismic proportions, the West Kelowna Warriors ousted the Penticton Vees in six […]

Joey Payeur Jordan Larson feels like he barely got to play hockey this season. But when he did, he made it count—and plans on doing the same in the coming weeks. The Fort Frances native and captain of the Carleton Place Canadians was chosen as a CCHL third team all-star […]

Joey Payeur For a team that steadfastly downplays the need for individual recognition, the Fort Frances Lakers still get their share of it—and then some. The Lakers have collected five of the seven SIJHL year-end awards handed out so far, with captain Dylan Robertson a good bet to make it […]

Staff Maybe there’s something to being an early riser and avoiding extra ends. Northern Ontario rose with the Maritime dawn today, then rose to the occasion to secure its first win at the senior women’s curling championship in Digby, N.S. With Fort Frances resident Lisa Penner playing third for the […]

Staff Wayne Strachan now stands alone. Strachan was named the SIJHL’s coach-of-the-year for an unprecedented fifth time earlier today—breaking the tie the Fort Frances Lakers’ head coach and general manager held with former Fort William North Stars’ coach Todd Howarth. The other nominees were Kurt Walsten (Dryden GM Ice Dogs) […]

Staff The Fort Frances Lakers got their wish. Alex Maticic scored two second-period goals as the host English River Miners rallied from a 4-1 deficit to beat the Minnesota Iron Rangers 6-4 in Game 4 of their first-round best-of-five series last night. It now comes down to a winner-take-all Game […]

Staff It was one of the easier choices of the Junior ‘A’ hockey awards season. Fort Frances Lakers’ blueliner Nick Minerva not surprisingly was selected as the SIJHL-Gongshow Gear best defenceman award winner earlier today. The 20-year-old from New Brunswick, N.J. wound up with 73 points in 52 games to […]

Staff The Fort Frances Lakers are 3-for-4 in the awards department, with more likely on the way. Fort captain Dylan Robertson was named the SIJHL’s top defensive forward for this season this past Tuesday, while fellow forward Andrew Willner was saluted as the league’s most sportsmanlike player. Robertson was picked […]

Joey Payeur Ben Kinne had recruitment on his mind. Dylan Robertson and Nick Minerva gave him plenty to consider. Minerva’s no-look pass to Robertson resulted in the game-winning goal at 2:05 of overtime as the Fort Frances Lakers ended the regular season by winning its eighth straight game with a […]

Staff The Chiefs exploded out of the gate, as expected. Then they imploded, which nobody expected. The Emo Misfits scored five unanswered goals, including a hat trick from Claire Sandelovich, to pave their way to a 5-1 victory in the championship game of the second-annual Chiefs Women’s Hockey Invitational Tournament […]

Joey Payeur If there’s any question about how superb a season the Fort Frances Lakers had as a group, take a look at the lengthy list of players who could bring home some SIJHL hardware in the coming weeks. Each of the eight categories for the league’s year-end awards features […]

Press Release Team Black continued its domination of the Fort Frances Men’s Basketball League last night. The league leaders rolled past Team Red 107-70 in their opener, then pulled out a 91-89 decision over Team White in the nightcap. The first game started out fairly even, with Team Red staying […]