Apparently it is possible to have too much of a good thing.
The Fort Frances Canadians stormed out of the gates against the International Falls’ junior varsity Broncos on Monday night, bulging the twine on four of six shots in the opening period at Bronco Arena.
But instead of pressing their advantage after the first intermission, the Midget ‘AA’ squad became complacent and was forced to work hard in the waning minutes to preserve their 5-3 lead after allowing the Broncos back into the contest.
Canadians’ head coach Dave Egan declined comment after the game, deferring questions to his assistants.
“In a way, I don’t think it’s the best for our team to have a start like that because you can get a little too confident coming in after the first period when you have that many goals,” assistant coach Shaun Egan said.
“It did take a bit out of our guys because they thought they were ahead of the game but they weren’t.
“We slowed down and we just kind of laid back and let them come into our zone,” he added. “We didn’t put any pressure on them.
“I think once they started getting goals on us and started putting pressure on us, we realized, ‘Hey, we have to pull up our socks and go here.’”
“We’ve got to learn not to give up and keep going with that killer instinct,” echoed assistant coach Tyler Pocock.
“You have to give them credit, too. They kept coming strong all game even when we were up those four goals.
“They never gave up,” Pocock stressed.
The Canadians see their next action this weekend when they travel to Wayzata, Mn. for a tournament.
Tyler Harris opened the scoring for the Canadians just 1:49 in when he redirected Logan Allen’s shot past freshman Bronco goalie Mike Hart.
The Canadians doubled their advantage minutes later when Ryan Shortreed got the puck to Matthew Beck along the boards in the Broncos’ zone, who skated into the high slot and beat Hart high to the glove side with a wrist shot.
Beck’s goal appeared to unnerve Hart as just over a minute later, Jared Baker scored from a seemingly impossible angle.
Standing in the corner on the goal line, Baker flipped a harmless-looking shot towards the net that somehow found its way between the post and Hart.
The lone bright spot in what otherwise was a disastrous opening period for the Broncos came when Jake Caseretto danced around a defender, cut through the crease, and then beat Canadians’ goalie Joe Bodnar five-hole to cut the deficit to 3-1.
But the Canadians restored their three-goal advantage before the first intermission when Harris sent Baker and Brant Witherspoon in on a 2-on-1 break.
Baker faked a slapshot before passing the puck to Witherspoon, who slid a backhander past Hart.
The Canadians appeared to put the game away early in the second period when captain George Ossachuk found Baker alone in front of the Broncos’ net. Baker made short work of the scoring opportunity—firing a wrist shot top corner for his second tally of the game.
To their credit, though, the junior Broncos did not give up.
Justin Mayer cut into the Canadians’ lead less then a minute after Baker’s second goal. After taking a pass from Daniel Eldien, Mayer streaked into the Canadians’ zone and beat Bodnar with a snap shot between the pads.
Trailing 5-2 after two, the host Broncos pulled to within two goals when Jake Ruelle scored a power-play goal midway through the third, but that was as close as they’d come.
In related news, the Canadians blanked the Grand Rapids Jr. Gold Thunderhawks 4-0 last Thursday at the Ice for Kids Arena here.
Andrew Maki, Matthew Beck, Shortreed, and Kyle Herr were the goal scorers while Justin Pryde earned the shutout in goal.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
