Joey Payeur
So, Davis Ross, who’s the better shootout artist between you and your twin brother?
“Well, Nolan’s 2-for-3 and I’m 1-for-1,” chuckled the Fort Frances Lakers’ defenceman.
“But if I took three, I don’t know if I’d score two,” he admitted.
Taking a page out of the book of his sibling, who scored the deciding goal in the team’s previous two shootouts, Davis Ross cashed in on his chance in the fourth round to lift the first-place Lakers to a 5-4 victory over the Dryden GM Ice Dogs in front of its best crowd of the season during a rare afternoon tilt Monday at the Ice For Kids Arena.
The Family Day holiday, combined with a team promotion of free admission for minor hockey players wearing their team jerseys, drew more than 900 people to watch the Lakers (34-6-0-1) win their ninth-straight SIJHL game by rallying from a pair of one-goal deficits in the third period to force overtime.
The squad also stayed at No. 7 in the CJHL’s latest top 20 weekly rankings, with the Penticton Vees (BCHL) remaining in top spot for another week.
Dylan Robertson beat Ice Dogs’ goalie Troy Pierce in the first round of the shootout before the teams traded two misses apiece (A.J. Rupert and Nolan Ross for the Lakers; Braedyn Aubin and Nic Noseworthy for Dryden).
Kyle Pouncy kept the Ice Dogs in the fight with a clutch goal in the third round to prolong the shootout.
Then it was Davis Ross’ time to shine—freezing Pierce with a shoulder feint before going to the backhand and putting the puck under the crossbar.
Pierce Dushenko, who made the shootout possible with a spectacular diving glove save on Woody Galbraith during an Ice Dogs’ power play early in overtime, then did his part by making a pad save on Blake Berg.
And just like that, Dryden (25-11-3-3) had lost its 10th game in 11 tries against the Lakers this season to fall 13 points back of top spot.
“That’s the one I usually do in practice,” Ross grinned about his game-winning move.
“I did the same one in Portage last year and it worked.”
Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan was happy he went with his hunch after not having tried Davis Ross in the shootout since acquiring the Fort native, along with his brother, at the Jan. 10 trade deadline.
“I went on a bit of a gut feeling,” Strachan admitted.
“There’s numerous guys that can be picked off our bench in that situation,” he added.
“But Davis has very soft hands and can expose the goalie up top.”
The Lakers stumbled out of the blocks Monday as Aubin gave the Ice Dogs a 2-0 lead before the midway point of the first period.
“We had a slow start and all the penalties didn’t help,” conceded Ross.
“We shot ourselves in the foot.”
Robertson, who collected another two points to put his league-leading total at 56, got the home crowd pumped shortly afterwards when he tipped home Rupert’s shot from the left circle.
Andrew Willner tied the score just 1:47 later with his own deflection of Ryan Gazich’s point shot.
The Ice Dogs, who had just 14 skaters for the game, took the lead back in the second when Aubin finished off his hat trick with a power-play rocket from the slot.
“Dryden wanted it more in the first 40 minutes,” noted Strachan.
“Maybe it’s because we went out in warm-up and saw they only had 14 [skaters], but we didn’t have that will, that hunger, to get into the game,” he stressed.
“We responded in a good way in the third, creating a lot of opportunities and playing more to our strengths.”
That response included Brandon Zajicek’s tying goal after a sharp cross-ice pass from Nick Minerva near the Ice Dogs’ blueline.
Dryden went back in front at 14:42 after Troy Williams blocked Robertson’s clearing attempt at the point and blasted a shot that Noseworthy redirected past Dushenko.
But Willner struck right back 1:13 later after solid forechecking by Cole Tymkin and Robertson.
“Robertson and Tymkin did some good work, and I found a lane out front and Robertson found me with a good pass,” recalled Willner, who also lauded his team’s penalty-killing effort that held Dryden to 1-for-6 with the man advantage.
“The guys have been working hard on penalty killing in practice and it’s been a big plus for us,” he remarked.
“The kill we got at the end of the third and into overtime gave us a lot of momentum.”
The Lakers got a welcomed infusion to its defensive corps Friday night with the return of Robbie Bonthron, who missed almost eight weeks of action with a broken jaw suffered Dec. 19 against the Minnesota Iron Rangers.
The Lakers capitalized with a 5-2 win over the Thunder Bay North Stars (22-21-0-3), scoring the final four goals of the game after Brad Thrower had put Thunder Bay up 2-1 early in the second period.
Nolan Ross, Minerva, Tymkin, Willner (power play), and Davis Ross all scored for the Lakers, who evened the season series with the North Stars at five wins apiece.
Dushenko had 29 saves for the win.
Defenceman Roshen Jaswal (sprained wrist) is aiming to be back next week while forward Dylan Kooner (fractured scapula) is targeting his March 1 doctor’s appointment to get cleared to return to action.
The Lakers visit the fourth-place Iron Rangers (16-22-2-2) tonight in Hoyt Lakes.
Then they’ll host the North Stars again Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the team’s only game this season at the Couchiching Arena.
