Canadians win in league debut

The Fort Frances Midget ‘AA’ Canadians are liking their new surrounding just fine, thank you very much.
A 4-2 win here Saturday afternoon against the Pineview Paper Kings was an ideal start to the Canadians’ entry into the Manitoba Eastman Midget League as the circuit’s newest member.
“The boys were ready for it,” said Canadians head coach Dave Egan, whose team came through despite the absence of key defencemen David Pollard and Bryan Chambers, who were away with the Muskie senior boys’ volleyball squad at a weekend tournament in Dryden.
“They’re tired of practising. They want to put what they’ve learned into game action.”
Canadians captain Tyler Pocock praised his team’s effort and pointed to their top-flight conditioning as the deciding factor in the win.
“You could see [Pineview] wearing down as the game went on,” said Pocock. “They just ran out of gas in the third.
“We’ve still got to improve our communication,” he added. “We were a little too quiet out there. But we’ve been trying to work on that in practice, too.”
The Canadians (1-0) faced off with an intriguing Paper Kings team that featured not only some mountain-sized forwards but also female defenceman Cassandra Flanagan.
It was Fort Frances drawing first blood 5:19 into the first period against Pineview goalie Daniel Sokoloski.
Danny Chapman—a Fort Frances Taggs Bantam ‘AA’ call-up who was brought in for the game to shore up the roster—circled in front of the net and got a shot off, with Atikokan’s Zack Halwachs smacking home the rebound for a 1-0 lead.
Shortly after a great series of Dominik Hasek-like saves by Fort Frances starting goalie Mark Buist, the Canadians doubled their cushion when Kevin Plett shovelled a loose puck past Sokoloski 3:03 into the second.
But only 1:55 later, Pineview struck for their first tally to cut the lead in half when Alex Corrello carried the puck across the Canadians’ blueline and hammered a shot that Buist couldn’t corral.
Scott Sokoloski dashed in to put the puck behind Buist.
Wade Friesen came off the bench with 7:17 left in the second to replace Buist in a pre-planned move by Egan.
“I wanted to get Wade in there to get his feet wet after all the practice we’ve had,” noted Egan, who added each goalie will play a full contest during next weekend’s two-game road trip.
Emo’s Brian Vargas was in the right place at the right time to notch the eventual game-winner at 2:28 of the third. He jumped into the play after a line change and rocketed a shot that eluded Sokoloski to the stick side.
“I just came off the bench and the defence dumped it right to me,” said Vargas. “My eyes got really big when I saw it coming.”
“That’s how Brian plays,” said Egan. “He’s one of the better shooters on the team. He’s got a pretty good chance to hit the twine when he lets one go.”
Brett Meyers made it 4-1 halfway through the frame, executing a perfect decoy on a two-on-one breakaway and uncorking a laser beam that hit the top corner over Sokoloski’s glove.
Colin Cyr brought the Paper Kings within two with 4:02 left, dipsy-doodling around defenceman Shaun Egan before wristing a quick shot past Friesen.
The Canadians travel west for their next action, facing Lac du Bonnet on Saturday night and then Mitchell on Sunday afternoon.
Their next home game is slated Nov. 8 at 1:15 p.m. against Rat River at the Ice for Kids Arena.
The team eventually will play once each against all seven other teams in the Eastman League’s “Red” Division, with that part of their schedule ending Nov. 30.
Teams in both the “Red” and “Blue” divisions then will be re-evaluated at the league meeting Dec. 3 and placed in either the ‘A’ or ‘B’ Divisions for the rest of the season.