Joey Payeur
The Fort Frances Lakers are doing what it takes to get into the win column.
Head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan just wishes they wouldn’t wait so long to do it.
Strachan watched his team increase both its winning streak and its lead atop the SIJHL standings with a pair of 5-3 road victories over the weekend against the Dryden GM Ice Dogs and Thunder Bay North Stars.
The Lakers (12-2) now have won five-straight victories and are five points clear of the second-place Ice Dogs (9-4-1).
The wins also moved the squad up three spots to No. 10 in the CJHL’s top 20 weekly rankings.
But it took three third-period goals both Friday and Saturday to ice the victories.
“It more or less is our saviour right now,” Strachan said about his team’s penchant for late-game production.
“From a coach’s perspective, it is tough,” he admitted. “But we have found ways to play our best in the late parts of games and it has brought us success.
“At some point, some time, we have to realize it may not happen like that and start to play 60 minutes of hockey,” Strachan stressed.
With first place up for grabs Friday night in Dryden, the Lakers laid an early egg—falling behind 2-0 on goals by Derek McPhail and Nic Noseworthy.
“We were not prepared to play the game,” noted Strachan.
“I believe we let a long wait for our dressing rooms get to us and a bad penalty to start the game shorthanded from a pre-game violation deflated our bench,” he added.
“They [Ice Dogs] were ready, pumped, and firing on all cylinders to jump all over us.
Strachan said his team didn’t get it going five-on-five.
“We fought the puck and our feet were not moving to compete with the Ice Dogs,” he lamented.
But Dryden then took four penalties in a span of 4:18 later in the period—and the Lakers cashed in on power-play goals by Dylan Robertson and Andrew Willner to tie the score.
After a scoreless second period, the third came down to the Ice Dogs’ inability to stay out of the penalty box.
Tanner Watt’s roughing penalty led to a power-play marker by Nick Minerva to give the Lakers their first lead of the night.
Ice Dogs’ goalie Taylor Unruh then was whistled for delay of game that allowed Jack Bernie to net the team’s fourth power-play goal of the game.
“One of our keys to the game was win the special teams game,” said Strachan, whose squad went 4-for-9 with the man advantage while holding Dryden’s power play scoreless in six chances.
“When you get nine chances, you hope to capitalize on a few and our power-play guys came up big,” he lauded.
“They moved the puck, they moved bodies in and out of positions, we put pucks to the net, and read the ice very well to create [scoring] chances.
“That’s the best our power play has played all year,” Strachan noted.
“If we are not clicking on the power play, we lose the game.”
Braeden Allkins pulled Dryden to within one 21 seconds later, but Franco Colapaolo added his first goal as a Laker into an empty net with 34 seconds left to seal it.
Pierce Dushenko made 27 saves to earn the win.
“Pierce has changed his approach a lot in the last couple of weeks,” noted Strachan. “I see a more focused person when he is preparing and that, in itself, has helped his game.
“He has kept us in the last three to four games in the early going, and shut the door in the third period to give us a chance to win,” he remarked.
“We need him to stay in this zone and keep working hard.”
Then against the last-place North Stars (6-9-0-1) the following night, the Lakers never trailed the whole game.
Julian Uhryniuk and Cole Tymkin (power play) gave the Lakers a 2-0 first-period lead.
Thunder Bay fought back with goals from Christian Ward and Kristopher Hamlin in the second to knot the score.
Christian Ripley then put the Lakers up 3-2 early in the third, but again the North Stars refused to be quit as Jesse Talakoski tied the game.
Cue Robertson, who is tied for second in SIJHL scoring with 21 points.
The skilled forward finished off a set-up from Tymkin and Willner with exactly three minutes left to give the Lakers a 4-3 lead.
He then settled matters for good with an empty-netter with 14 seconds to go for his 12th goal of the season—one behind Konnar Dechaine of the English River Miners.
“He is going to the danger areas—the areas you need to compete in to have success,” Strachan said of Robertson.
“He is battling and going to the net and finding open plays and pucks, and capitalizing or making plays that lead to goals.”
Dushenko made 30 saves and now is tied for the league lead in save percentage (.919).
He also is second in GAA (2.44) to go along with his SIJHL-best two shutouts.
Backing up Dushenko on Saturday was a well-known face in the form of Ryan Ferguson, who is filling in for injured goalie Brandon Bodnar.
The Atikokan native and former Muskie goalie was released by the Lakers last December and picked up by the Abitibi Eskimos (NOJHL).
Five games later, he moved on to the Canmore Eagles (AJHL), where he played in 53 regular-season and three playoff games.
“Ryan is just an affiliated player,” clarified Strachan.
“He is currently with the Thunder Bay Stars in the Thunder Bay Junior ‘B’ Hockey League and having a good start to their season,” he noted.
“He is just a great kid to have around, has the experience at this level with us, and brings stability to the net if we need to call upon him.”
The Lakers return to the ice tomorrow night in Ear Falls against the fourth-place Miners (5-8-1-3).
Their next home game goes this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. against the North Stars in what will serve as the team’s annual Remembrance Day game.
Admission is free to all Legion members.
