Staff
The Fort Frances Lakers will be glad to get out of Red Lake and back home.
A miserable weekend saw the squad lose both games of a back-to-back set to the host Miners.
Red Lake roared to an 8-2 rout Friday, then followed that up with a narrow 4-3 victory the following night.
Bryce Young tallied twice, and assisted on the game-winner, as the second-place Miners (5-1-0-0) held on for the victory Saturday.
After beating fourth-place Fort Frances (4-4-0-0) handily the night before, Red Lake came out strong in grabbing a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes on markers by Ethan Stuckless and Young (power play).
The Miners padded their lead 1:59 into the second when Young notched his second of the night, and team-leading eighth goal, on a man-advantage.
Up a skater once again, the hosts pushed it to 4-0 six-and-a-half minutes into the frame as Spencer Milne tallied his fourth of the season.
Nick Lucas finally put the Lakers on the board at 12:27 when he connected on a man-advantage to trim it to 4-1 after 40 minutes.
Battling back in the third, Cole Allan and Nik Hahkala each netted their first SIJHL goals to bring the visitors to within one with 7:46 to go in regulation.
But the Lakers’ comeback bid comeback fell short as the Miners’ defence stiffened from there to hold on for the win.
Shots on goal favoured Red Lake by a 33-28 margin, with Vince Benedetto picking up the win while Jacob Gnidziejko suffered the loss.
On Friday night, the Miners got multiple-point efforts from six different skaters as they cruised to victory.
It was all Miners from the outset as they tallied three times in a seven-minute span in the first period on goals by Michel Di Lullo (short-handed), Kyle Uzelman, and Kaidin Hodgson.
The onslaught continued in the second as the Miners tacked on four more to grab a commanding 7-0 lead.
Stratton Pickett had the first two goals before Milne and Young both tallied.
Fort Frances got one back later in the period on a Reece Hopfner tally to trim it to 7-1 after 40 minutes.
But Red Lake added insult to injury when Di Lullo added his second goal of the night midway just over midway through the third.
Dustin Roitelman then connected on a man-advantage at 13:57 but that was as close as Fort Frances got.
Zach Willms made 22 saves to earn the win.
After being acquired back on Oct. 4, Gnidziejko suffered the loss for Fort Frances in his return to the SIJHL after allowing five goals on 16 shots.
Matt Booth handled 18-of-21 attempts in just under 30 minutes of relief.
The Lakers next are in action tomorrow when they host the third-place Dryden GM Ice Dogs (3-2-2-0) at 7:30 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
Then they’ll cap the week by facing the first-place North Stars (7-0-1-0) in Thunder Bay on Friday night.
The Thief River Falls Norskies (3-4-2-0) sit in fifth place while the Minnesota Iron Rangers (1-7-0-0) remain in the basement.
