By Allan Bradbury
The Thunder Bay North Stars came out firing and scored early in game six of their engagement with the Fort Frances Lakers Friday night, carrying the lion’s share of the game and beating the Lakers 4-2.
A few errors on the part of the Lakers cost them an opportunity to win the Bill Salonen Cup Friday night in Thunder Bay. Instead, the Lakers will be looking to force game seven as they head to the Fort William Gardens Saturday.
The North Stars opened the scoring inside the first minute of the game when Brady Cates had the puck go off his glove and over his shoulder. The Lakers were able to tie it up just after the five-minute mark when Nick Fagnilli scored on a feed from Teagan Wrolstad and Cooper Hills.
The Lakers looked to have taken the lead on a Wrolstad powerplay goal; however goaltender Morgan Blackwood dislodged the net when pushing across his crease and the goal was waved off after a challenge from the North Stars.
Under league rules, whenever the net is knocked off the whistle goes and play is stopped, no matter who dislodges the net or how far.
The North Stars scored a second goal shortly after to go into the intermission up 2-1.
The Lakers tied the game up on a powerplay goal when Blackwood hooked Jace Van Eps as he crossed in front of the goal mouth and tried to go behind the net. Ronnie Bender scored the goal in his first game back after sitting out the away games in Thunder Bay after a tough collision in game two.
Bender pushed to the front of the net, connecting with Peirce Gouin who put the puck past Blackwood. Unfortunately, that was the last of the offense the Lakers could muster.
The North Stars scored twice before the end of the middle frame to take a two-goal lead that would stand for the win.
Despite outshooting the North Stars by 19 for the game and 16 in the third period, the Lakers were unable to beat Blackwood when they needed to. Cates stopped 22 of 26 in the losing effort for the Lakers, while Blackwood stopped 43 of 45 to backstop the North Stars to one game short of the Bill Salonen Cup.
Following the game, Lakers general manager and head coach Luke Judson says the team didn’t start the game with the right attitude. “I think we waited too long to start playing desperate hockey,” Judson said.
“I thought we had a good second and third, but ultimately, we made more mistakes than they did. It was a good hockey game, but we need to clean up our messes. Some guys made bad pinches and when you’re playing a team with the skill they have, it’s going to cost you.
On a first period that saw Cates tip one into his own net and then a Lakers goal disallowed, Judson said he appreciated the team’s ability to fight back despite the challenges.
“Brady will tell you he wants that one back,” Judson said. “He made some good saves after that, obviously and held his own but then to go back the other way and have one disallowed, it could have been 2-0 for us early and it’s tough to battle back from that and they did. We made it a game and then ultimately a couple more errors ended up in our net.”
Judson said he expects to have defenceman Wyatt Greer back in the lineup tomorrow night in Thunder Bay after an eight-game suspension imposed during the semifinals after a hit to the head call against Kam River. There will also be other decisions to make on the lineup ahead of the crucial game six.
“Wyatt’s back in tomorrow, he’s been a warrior for us and when you’re playing two games in a row especially you want some fresh legs up there,” Judson said. “He’ll be back in and we’ve got some tough lineup decisions to make.
Judson said he’s not that disappointed with the game overall despite the outcome
“I was happy with our effort, I was happy with how they stuck together and kept competing,” he said. “But ultimately, it’s a game of mistakes and we made more tonight.”
The Lakers will play the North Stars Saturday night at Fort William Gardens, with puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m. Eastern Time, 6 p.m. Central Time. The Lakers will have a cheering section in the Gardens with a fan bus scheduled to leave the Memorial Sports Complex tomorrow afternoon to help propel the Lakers to bring the series home for a decisive game seven Tuesday night at Ice for Kids Arena.
