After an 8-5 loss on Halloween in Dryden, the Fort Frances Lakers beat the Kam River Walleye 6-3 in a rare Sunday evening contest.
Kam River jumped out to a lead about five minutes into the first period and the Lakers struggled going 0-3 on powerplay before Judd Pesch got the Lakers on the board near the 17 minute mark. Pesch would score another goal to put the Lakers ahead with the clock winding down in the first, sending them to the dressing room with a 2-1 lead after the first 20 minutes.
The Walleye showed some fight early in the second and tied the game back up at 2-2 before Carter Deschamps wired home a pass from Gregory Wiseman to put the Lakers ahead for good. Gunnar Simon would score the game winner on the powerplay with four minutes remaining in the middle frame with assists from Zak Green and Nickolas Fagnilli.
Carter Deschamps carries the puck out of the Lakers end in the second period Sunday evening. Deschamps scored the Lakers’ third goal of the game and his fourth of the season.
Carter Peters celebrates after scoring the Lakers’ sixth goal of the game. Peters now has four goals on the season and two in his last two games.
Fagnilli would go on to score his own powerplay goal six minutes into the third and Carter Peters would score his second goal in as many games following his return from and injury that saw him sit out a handful of October games. That final Lakers goal chased Kam River’s starting goalie Brady Low from the crease after giving up six goals on 27 shots.
Jaiden Kulynych would wrap up the game’s scoring, beating Nolan Koethler with just under seven minutes left in the game.
Koethler stopped 30 out of 33 shots en route to the victory.
Head Coach and GM Luke Judson says he was pleased with the game following the Friday loss to Dryden.
“Things don’t always go the way you plan,” he said.
‘We’ve always been happy with the effort our guys give, I don’t know that that score was necessarily indicative of the play [Friday] night, but it’s good to bounce back. It’s good to start putting the puck in the net a little bit. Beyond that, we’re getting ready for a big weekend next week in Sioux Lookout.”
Judson praised Peterson for his ability to get back into the lineup and have an impact right away.
“He sat out a couple of games nursing some injuries,” Judson said.
“He’s definitely gotten up to speed with everyone else and he was a difference maker tonight. We’re expecting him to be a big part of things moving forward.”
The Lakers’ special teams units also came ready to play Sunday as they went 3-5 on the powerplay and killed off four penalties.
“We always talk about the powerplay being the difference, we saw that tonight, we got three on the powerplay that’s the difference in the game,” Judson said.
“It’s been something we’ve worked hard at this year, it’s come a long way from the first few weeks and we’re going to keep dialing it in.”
Judson says the P.K. has been great and continues to do well.
“We’ve been pretty confident in our penalty kill all year,” he said, “Obviously sometimes they find a hole, but I think those guys are confident with that they’re doing and they’ve been getting better and more structured as we go, so we’ll be leaning on them.”
Sunday also saw Fort Frances local affiliate player Willem Kirk-Bertens suit up for his first regular season game of the year, Judson says he appreciated the effort he saw from Kirk-Bertens who is currently playing for Seventh Fire Secondary School in Thunder Bay.
“He had a great game, he kept it simple,” Judson said.
“He was physical and he hunted pucks, we’ll be happy to have him back again.”
The Lakers head to Sioux Lookout next weekend for a two game series against the Bombers. They’re back in town for a Remembrance Day matchup against the Ironwood Lumberjacks, followed by a weekend series against Red Lake on Nov. 13 and 14.
