Jamie Mountain
With the first half of the SIJHL season officially in the books, the Fort Frances Lakers now have their sights set on improving in all areas moving forward.
A 3-1 loss to the visiting Thief River Falls Norskies back on Dec. 21 dropped the Lakers’ record to 11-17-0-0 as they headed into the SIJHL’s two-week holiday break on a sour note.
The Lakers kick off second-half action this Saturday when they hit the road to face the fourth-place Dryden GM Ice Dogs (13-11-3-1) and head coach/general manager Wayne Strachan is hopeful his squad will come out of the gate ready to go.
“We need to come back energized and have some good skates leading up to Saturday,” he stressed.
“Some of the main things we need are more pride in our game, especially defensively, and we need to play a faster game in moving the puck, tracking the puck, and putting pressure on our opponents to retrieve pucks.”
Although he’s yet to discuss second-half goals with his team, Strachan does feel his players need to challenge themselves in order get better each and every day.
“[We need to] have better practice habits, increase our work ethic both on and off the ice, and put the team first, not our personal agendas,” he stressed.
“As far as some stats, our power play has to operate at 22 percent or better and we need to improve our percentage on the road,” Strachan said.
“Our penalty kill needs to be 85 percent, or better, and needs to improve at home,” he added.
“We need to continue to be disciplined and start playing playoff hockey now.”
As for the Lakers’ biggest challenges moving forward, Strachan cited playing to their identity consistently will be the biggest obstacle.
“Believing we can improve daily and setting out to do it, which will lead to better habits and more success,” he reasoned.
“We have been our own worst enemy through the first half and we need certain players to buy into the culture of the team and care more,” Strachan stressed.
“If this doesn’t happen, we will continue to struggle”.
Ahead of Saturday’s game in Dryden, Strachan said his squad would be working on conditioning, skills, and getting back into a routine and review of its systems.
Strachan also revealed he had some areas in mind on where he could improve his team ahead of the trade deadline.
“We need to add a defenceman who can quarterback the power play and solidify our back end,” he remarked.
“We need to add a scoring forward to help in our top-six.
“And with our third card, I believe we need to add some physicality, whether it comes from a defenceman or a depth forward,” he noted.
