Joey Payeur
Make it an even dozen for the SIJHL’s juggernaut.
The Fort Frances Lakers ran their winning streak to 12 games Saturday night with a 4-2 win over the English River Miners in Ear Falls.
The continued success has pushed the Lakers to unprecedented heights in the Canadian Junior ‘A” Hockey League top 20 rankings for the third straight week, as it was announced today they have moved up one spot to No. 4 in the country.
The recently-assembled line of Bryce Lipinski, Colton Spicer, and Kevin Kurm did most of the heavy lifting in this one, combining for eight points while netting three of the four goals.
“These three I have felt have been clicking well together the last two games and, out of any of the new lines, have gelled the quickest,” noted Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan.
“They all have speed, skill, and offensive awareness.
“What I like about the three of them is they all go to the net and find holes for one another to create scoring chances,” Strachan added.
“In our own end, they have been coming back to support our defence and transitioning quickly on the attack.”
Lipinski and Kurm sandwiched power-play goals for the Lakers (13-1-0-1) around a Kellen MacBlain marker for English River (4-11-1) to make it 2-1 after the first period.
Lyndon Lipinski scored the eventual game-winner only 12 seconds into the second for the lone goal of the middle frame.
John Morales pulled the Miners within 3-2 at 6:05 of the third, but Bryce Lipinski struck again with the man-advantage at 13:44 for the insurance marker.
Fort Frances dominated the shot clock by a 58-18 margin, with Miners’ goalie Greg Harney doing all he could to keep his team in the game with a brilliant 54-save effort.
Jordan Cartney, meanwhile, improved to 6-1 for the season with 16 stops to earn the victory between the pipes.
Lakers’ defenceman John Dora missed his second game due to a upper-body injury. He is expected to miss the next week of action.
Forward Cam Gobeil was in the lineup for his first game in two weeks, with Hunter Leishman being a healthy scratch after collecting just one assist in his past five games after scoring in four-straight contests.
“The staff felt Hunter struggled in Dryden [last Wednesday], and we felt it was a good opportunity to get Cam into the lineup and in game action,” explained Strachan.
He added the status of a couple of other players would have to be decided at practice today after they were shaken up Saturday.
The Lakers also are waiting to find out if forward Torrin Grange will face any disciplinary action from the league after he received a minor and a game misconduct for checking from behind with 12 seconds left in the game.
Fort Frances plays the last of three-straight road games tomorrow night in Spooner against the last-place Wisconsin Wilderness (1-11), who lost their 10th in a row in a 4-2 defeat at home Saturday against the Thunder Bay North Stars.
The Lakers lead the Stars (9-1-0-2) for top spot in the SIJHL by seven points, with Thunder Bay holding three games in hand.
The next home action for the Lakers is a rare Thursday night game at the Ice For Kids Arena, when the Dryden Ice Dogs visit at 7:30 p.m.
