Staff
The Dryden Ice Dogs sent the Fort Frances Lakers home with their tails between their legs.
Kevin Burton had a goal and two assists, and eight different Ice Dogs lit the lamp, in an 8-2 victory for Dryden on Friday night.
The second-place Ice Dogs (21-3-2) won their ninth game in a row while sending fifth-place Fort Frances (6-17-3) to their third-straight loss and 10th defeat in their last 11 games.
The Lakers now trail fourth-place K&A Wolverines (9-17-4) by eight points, although Fort Frances does hold four games in hand.
Chad Liley started the onslaught for Dryden at 5:40 of the first period with a man-advantage tally that was part of a deadly Ice Dogs’ power play, which went a perfect 4-for-4 on the night.
Kyle Heck then made it 2-0 at the 10:41 mark before Jordan Carne responded for the Lakers with his sixth of the year at 13:53.
Burton put Dryden back up by two at 16:38 and then the Ice Dogs padded their lead in the second.
Brenden Church bulged the twine at 9:28 before Tim Kavanaugh (power play) created an even bigger mountain for Fort Frances to climb at 15:52.
Cody Edwards, in his second game since joining the Lakers, netted his first goal only 11 seconds later to try to inject some life into Fort Frances’ veins.
The final frame, though, belonged to the Ice Dogs, who outshot Fort Frances 52-35 overall.
B.J. McClellan made it 6-2 when he fired a shot past Lakers’ goalie Jameson Shortreed. Mike Lennon struck with the man advantage before Jon Mitchell rounded out the scoring with another power-play marker.
Josh Baker won his second start in two appearances for Dryden this season, turning aside 33 shots.
Shortreed, meanwhile, had another busy night, making 44 saves in the loss to drop to 4-13-1-1 on the season.
The Lakers will try to turn their plight around when they head back to Dryden on Wednesday night for a rematch with the Ice Dogs.
Fort Frances’ next home game is this Saturday (Dec. 12) when the Wolverines invade the Ice For Kids Arena at 7:30 p.m.
