Joey Payeur
With the Christmas season having arrived and the guys up front experiencing a power outage, the Fort Frances Lakers’ collection of blueliners picked a perfect time to finally light it up.
After only a combined seven goals from its defencemen in the first 20 games of the season, three provided all the goals in a 3-2 overtime victory against the host Thief River Falls Norskies on Saturday.
“It was good to see,” said Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan, who has seen a dearth of offence from his defence after having the CJHL’s top-scoring man from the point last season in Nick Minerva (73 points) and other notable back-end producers with the likes of Davis Ross, Robbie Bonthron, and Roshen Jaswal.
“We have the offensive ability on our back end and it is always nice when players step and contribute,” Strachan noted.
“We have always had secondary scoring, and hopefully this is a sign some players are gaining confidence and further developing their game.
“If we can get this type of offence from other sources, it increases our chances to have success,” he reasoned.
Connor Keith’s first goal as a Laker came on the power play and gave the squad a 1-0 lead at 8:45 of the first.
Following a scoreless second period, Brandon Zajicek lifted a huge weight off his shoulders at 3:18 of the third with his second goal of the season—and first in 11 games since last bulging the twine Oct. 22 against the Minnesota Iron Rangers.
But for the second-straight game, the Lakers (8-9-1-3) let a two-goal, third-period lead slip away after doing so in a 5-4 shootout loss to the Dryden GM Ice Dogs here Friday night.
Cameron Jones put the Norskies (9-10-1-3) on the board at 9:57, followed by Mitchell Soderberg’s equalizer at 13:50.
“We just talked about why we were there and it was for two points,” Strachan said, referring to what was discussed on the bench in light of the team’s collapse against Dryden the previous night.
“We stuck with our effort and had the chance to prevail for the victory.”
Maverick Lynes netted the game-winner with 40 seconds left in the extra session, assisted by Dylan Kooner and Jared Virtanen.
Lakers’ goalie Dakota Delbridge made 46 saves to earn the win.
“I thought he was strong on Saturday, focused, and, like I said last week, square to pucks,” noted Strachan.
“He was definitely in a zone.
“I know he would like the second goal back, but we got the win and he was solid in helping us achieve that,” Strachan added.
Ryan Buttazzoni took the loss for Thief River Falls, which holds a two-point lead on Fort Frances for fourth place, although the Lakers hold two games in hand.
Austin Petrie drew his first assist in his third game as a Laker on Zajicek’s goal.
Meanwhile, fellow forward Cody Merritt played his first two games as a Laker on the weekend after coming over from the Steinbach Pistons (MJHL) for future considerations late last week.
“I think Austin has improved through each game he has now dressed with us,” lauded Strachan.
“He has contributed offensively, he skates well, works hard, and helps his linemates create offensive chances.
“Cody has kept his game simple, goes up and down his wing, gets pucks out of our end, and is a physical presence which is something our lineup needed,” he added.
Friday night’s loss had all the earmarks of a bizarre night—starting with Dawson Waddell’s penalty for a pre-game equipment violation putting the Lakers shorthanded before the puck even dropped.
The Ice Dogs capitalized on Jacen Bracko’s power-play marker at 1:52.
Kooner replied with a power-play tally at 2:12 of the second before Trey Palermo and Jaden Gustafson traded goals to make it 2-2 after two periods.
In the third, Virtanen sprung Kooner loose for a breakaway, which the Lakers’ captain capped off with a superb forehand-backhand deke to tuck it past Ice Dogs’ goalie Ben Dennis just 52 seconds into the frame.
Then Kooner executed a nifty spin-o-rama off the left-wing boards to shake his checker and set up a miniature 2-on-1, which Virtanen finished off with a lightning-quick release at 3:58 for a 4-2 lead.
“Dylan’s speed and Jared’s ice-reading ability create offence,” noted Strachan.
“Dylan is able to get to holes quickly and Jared is able to read the ice and find those holes.
“Right now, it has created a ton of offence,” he added. “They have helped us stay in hockey games and have the opportunity to have success in hockey games.
“They are coming up big for us right now and if we are going to continue to have an opportunity to win and move forward, then they are going to have to be a big part of that,” Strachan stressed.
But second-place Dryden (16-3-3) had no intention of rolling over, with Nic Noseworthy trimming the lead to one at 6:13.
Then with Dennis on the bench for an extra attacker, Noseworthy stuffed home a rebound of Quinn Robelle’s point shot with 33 seconds left in regulation to force overtime.
Both Brandon Bodnar and Dennis made key saves to preserve the tie through the 3-on-3 overtime.
After Ian Jarvis and Palermo both were stopped to open the shootout, Dennis robbed Matt Tustin with a pad stop.
Braedyn Aubin then moved in on Bodnar and used a quick feint move to get him to open the five-hole, where Aubin slid the puck through.
That would be the only goal of the shootout as Dennis forced Kooner to shoot wide on the Lakers’ last chance.
Strachan agreed the peaks and valleys of the game epitomized the Lakers’ season to date.
“We were like a yo-yo,” he remarked.
“If you watched what led to each of their goals, it was our own fault—not getting pucks out of the zone when we had the chance, not taking the body, not getting a key save when we needed one, selfishness in not moving the puck or getting the pucks deep,” Strachan noted.
“As a team, until we move past these little correctable things against the top teams, we will always keep them in games until we realize to do the little things wins games.”
The Lakers face the Ice Dogs again tonight in Dryden, then will return home to host the Norskies this Friday at 7:30 p.m.
The theme for that night is “Face Off With Youth Homelessness,” with fans being asked to bring along a non-perishable food item to support “The Push For Change.”
The fundraiser revolves around former street youth Joe Roberts, who is pushing a shopping cart 9,000 km across Canada over 17 months as part of a national awareness campaign to help end youth homelessness.
He left St. John’s, N.L. on May 1 and hopes to arrive in Vancouver by the end of September.
Roberts won’t pass through Fort Frances during his trek—sticking along Highway 17 once he reaches Thunder Bay in mid-March.
He expects to reach the Ontario-Manitoba boundary around mid-April.
