Lucas Punkari
Looking for some good competition in their first game action this season, the Fort Frances Midget ‘AA’ Canadians certainly got that—and much more—in three meetings with the visiting West End Bruins (Thunder Bay) at the ’52 Canadians Arena over the weekend.
The Canadians ended up finishing the weekend slate with a 1-1-1 mark, with all of the contests coming right down to the wire.
“The games went like I expected to start off the year,” said Canadians’ head coach Dave Egan.
“We have some things to work on going ahead in our practices as while some parts of our game were good, there were some others that were weak,” he noted.
“Some of the boys have experience at this level, but there [are] quite a number of players that don’t have that experience so we have to bring those guys along, as well.
“But I really can’t complain with how things turned out,” Egan added.
The first game took place Saturday afternoon, with the two teams battling to a 7-7 draw thanks to a game-tying goal by the Canadians’ Nolan Ross with only seven seconds left in the third period.
Davis Ross and Wade Johnson led the Canadians with a goal and two assists each while Cory Sdao and Jordan Pacifico both scored a pair of goals for the Bruins.
“I liked some of the leadership from the boys when things were down, and there were certain players who raised their game as it went along,” Egan said.
“The two Ross boys bring a lot of energy, and our first two lines are quite strong with a lot of returning players.
“If our other two lines can feed off of those boys, I think we are going to come together quite well,” he added.
That night, the Canadians skated to a 6-5 triumph—sparked by a natural hat-trick by Dylan Curtis during the second period.
Then in the final game Sunday morning, Hayden Baxter and Dominic Silvaggio both had a goal and two assists to help the Bruins win 6-4 to close out the series—despite a pair of goals by Dylan Grinsell for the Canadians.
Following that loss, Egan felt an issue that needed to be rectified going forward was in the passing portion of the team’s game.
“Basically, it all comes down to the fundamentals,” he stressed. “At some times the passing was good, but at other times we sort of slipped back into some bad habits and we didn’t end up making our proper passes.
“I also think that we will need to go back and do some more checking drills and also work on our defensive zone coverage as I think we need to polish those aspects of our game up a little bit,” Egan said.
In the other dressing room, Bruins’ head coach Joel Ritchie felt the Canadians were an excellent challenge for his team, who currently are leading the way in the Thunder Bay loop.
“The loss that we had to them on Saturday night was the first time we had been beaten all season by a Midget ‘AA’ team,” he noted.
“Fort Frances has a really good team, and as you can tell by the scores in all three games, they were all really tight and both teams were of a very equal calibre.
“I don’t think we’re going to be running into each other at any tournaments during the winter, but I think you might see both teams play in another series of games in either Fort Frances or Thunder Bay,” Ritchie added.
Next up for the Canadians will be the fifth-annual Gus Lindberg Memorial tournament here Dec. 2-4, which will see teams from Duluth, Thunder Bay, and Wayzata competing against the home squad.
“That’s going to be some good, tough hockey during that tournament as none of those teams are going to be weak or anything like that,” Egan remarked.
“However, I like to think that with our mix of returning players and new faces that we are going to have a good season.
“And if we can have our passing improved to match our speed, good things will happen,” he predicted.
