Lucas Punkari
It might not have been how it was drawn up on paper, but the Fort Frances Lakers came away with the series victory in the 1 vs. 2 showdown affair against the Wisconsin Wilderness this weekend.
After dropping the opening leg of the series in Spooner last weekend, the red-and-white won the second leg by a combined 8-4 score here this past weekend, which set the stage for a shootout to determine the overall series winner following Saturday night’s game.
It took until the 11th round for a winner to be decided, when Lakers’ forward Brett McMahon took a quick shot down low on Wilderness goalie Tanner Milliron to give his team the dramatic victory.
“I wasn’t sure if I was going to shoot or deke to begin with, but as I came down he [Milliron] opened up and I just took a shot and it went in,” McMahon recalled.
“It pretty much came down to who had the last shot tonight, and for me this is pretty high up there as one of the biggest goals in my career,” the 17-year-old Fort Frances native added.
In Saturday’s game itself, the Lakers earned a 4-3 win over the defending SIJHL regular-season champs, although in the grand scheme of things, the series more or less was decided Friday night as the home side skated to a 4-1 triumph.
“To get two wins at home against Wisconsin is obviously a big feat by us,” enthused Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan.
“There were times that Wisconsin took it to us, but good teams find a way to win sometimes and I think that’s what we did here, especially tonight [Saturday].
“To go into a shootout to decide the series is anyone’s ballgame, and you saw with two talented teams what they can do out there,” he added.
“It was definitely interesting, and it was really exciting for the fans.”
In Saturday’s win, Ryan Wildman led the Lakers with a pair of goals.
Jon Carlson had opened the scoring with a power-play goal in the first period while Jaret Leclair slid home an empty-netter in the dying moments.
On Friday night, Adam Wensley scored a goal and assisted on two others in his return to the lineup after being out with an injury for the last two weeks, with linemate Jordan Larson chipping in with two helpers.
Byron Katapaytuk, Jordan Christianson, and Blake Boaz also tallied.
With the showdown series win, the Lakers earned the right to choose their opponent for the best-of-seven semi-finals, which will be the fourth-place Dryden Ice Dogs.
The exact start times for the series had not been officially announced as of press time, but Strachan expected Game 1 to take place this Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
Dryden ousted the Sioux Lookout Flyers in the quarter-finals.
The other SIJHL semi-final series will see the Wilderness square off against the third-place Thunder Bay North Stars, who eliminated the Duluth Clydesdales in the quarter-finals.
