Staff
The story of the first two days of the Dudley Hewitt Cup was lots of offence and not much defence from the Fort Frances Lakers.
They flipped the script in their final outing—but couldn’t change the outcome.
The Lakers’ potent offence dried up in a 3-0 loss to the OJHL champion Trenton Golden Hawks yesterday afternoon to end their stay at the tournament in Kirkland Lake far sooner than they wanted to.
The Lakers (0-3) entered the game knowing they had no hope to reach the playoff round after losing 6-5 to the defending champion Soo Thunderbirds on Wednesday and then watching Trenton beat the host Gold Miners 5-1 that night.
Trenton finished at 3-0 to advance directly to tomorrow’s final.
The Soo (2-1) will face Kirkland Lake (1-2) in tonight’s semi-final.
The Dudley Hewitt Cup champs move on to the RBC Cup on May 14-24 in Lloydminster, Alta./Sask.
Kevin Lavoie and Jordan DaSilva gave Trenton a 2-0 lead after the first period against Lakers’ goalie Brandon Bodnar.
The Fort native got the starting assignment ahead of regular starter Pierce Dushenko, whose was felled by an illness halfway through Wednesday’s game.
After a scoreless second period, Nick Minerva tried to make his way through the entire Golden Hawks’ team on an early third-period rush.
But after a turnover, Minerva was caught deep in Trenton’s zone—leading to a 3-on-1 the other way.
Ethan Skinner kept the puck on the rush and hammered it off Bodnar’s catching glove and in to cap the scoring.
Jackson McIntosh made 36 saves to record the shutout.
In a salute to Dushenko for his efforts over two seasons with the squad, Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan put the veteran netminder into the game after calling time-out with 1:32 to go.
Dushenko concluded his junior career by stopping both shots he faced, and was embraced by the entire team after the buzzer sounded.
Lakers’ forwards Jaden Gustafson and Tanner Garnham saw their first action of the tournament yesterday as Strachan chose to sit Cole Tymkin and Jack Bernie, who both have been battling injuries in recent weeks.
Along with Dushenko, the Lakers must bid farewell to SIJHL MVP and scoring champ Dylan Robertson, as well as fellow over-agers Andrew Willner, Nolan and Davis Ross, Christian Ripley, AJ Rupert, Jason Wilson, Roshen Jaswal, and Robbie Bonthron.
Minerva also is all but out the door as the SIJHL’s top defenceman this season is expected to join Robertson on the Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota Cardinals men’s team based in Winona this fall.
Tymkin, the SIJHL rookie-of-the-year who played almost the entire season as a 16-year-old and was a fifth-round draft pick of the OHL’s London Knights last year, also may end up elsewhere this fall.
That means there will be plenty of holes to fill on the roster next season for the Lakers, who tied the franchise record for regular-season wins this season with 46.
