Joey Payeur
Devin Tappenden thought he could see some writing on the wall, so he decided to author his own chapter to this season’s story.
Tappenden made 34 saves to backstop the Fort Frances Lakers (17-5-1-1) to a 6-3 win over the Dryden GM Ice Dogs (10-12-0-2) here Tuesday night.
Thanks to a 4-3 shootout loss by the Thunder Bay North Stars (16-6-0-2) to the visiting Minnesota Iron Rangers (13-7-3) last night, the Lakers now sit alone in first place.
They hold a one-point lead over the North Stars, with two games in hand.
With the acquisition Monday of goalie Pierce Dushenko from the Whitecourt Wolverines (AJHL), Tappenden knew it was time to deliver.
“I found out [Tuesday] morning and I’d say maybe it was a little factor,” admitted Tappenden, who was coming off a rough outing against the Iron Rangers last Friday, when he gave up five goals in less than two periods in a 9-2 Laker loss.
“It didn’t change the way I prepared at all,” he noted.
“There’s always a guy behind you that makes you push yourself harder.”
Dryden took the lead at 3:27 of the first when Zachary Kercz stole the puck from Sam Schultz inside the Lakers’ blueline and walked in alone before putting a wrist shot past Tappenden.
Fort Frances woke up after that, with Wyatt Cota responding 28 seconds later by redirecting Dylan Robertson’s feed behind Ice Dogs’ goalie Tate Sproxton.
Lucas DeBenedet then jumped on a loose puck in front of the net and shovelled it home to give the Lakers the lead.
Another Lakers’ turnover in their own zone led to Blake Berg rifling a shot past Tappenden at 16:13 to knot the affair.
Fort Frances took the lead for good when Miles Nolan beat Sproxton right off an offensive-zone draw for the Lakers’ only power-play goal in four chances on the night.
The Lakers then struck three times during what became a chippy final 20 minutes.
Carter Chorney raced from his own end into the Dryden zone before sending the puck to Robertson, who deftly tipped it over to Cota, who fired it home to make it 4-2.
Mason Meyer scored on a short-handed breakaway, with his shot beating Sproxton, hitting the crossbar, and then ricocheting off Sproxton’s back and in.
Meyer notched his second of the game, and team-high 14th of the season, into an yawning cage on a nice pass from DeBenedet.
Jonathan Philley tacked on a meaningless goal with 2.1 seconds left for Dryden, which held a 20-minute, closed-door meeting after the game.
“Fort did the work and we didn’t,” fumed Ice Dogs’ head coach Kurt Walsten.
“We quit at the end . . . it was all individual out there for us,” he noted.
“It was pond hockey and you don’t win playing pond hockey.”
Tuesday also was the final Laker game for goalie Ryan Ferguson, whose release was announced yesterday as the team had to reach the limit of 25 carded players, which kicks in come December.
“It’s always hard to make decisions at the cutdown date or trade deadline, and this one was not an easy one,” said Lakers’ general manager and head coach Wayne Strachan.
“Ryan is a great person, a hard worker, and a player you could ask anything to do and he would go out and do his best to get it done.
“Ryan has a couple of other opportunities we hope work out for him and we wish him the best of luck in the future,” Strachan added.
Ferguson was 7-2 this season with a 3.94 GAA and .883 save percentage.
The Atikokan native and former Muskie was 17-3-1 in his two season with the Lakers.
The Lakers next host the English River Miners (4-17-2) for a pair of games tomorrow and Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
