Joey Payeur
It’s a numbers game that simply didn’t add up for the Dryden GM Ice Dogs.
Six different goal scorers, and 12 players getting at least one point each, carried the Fort Frances Lakers to a 6-2 win over the Ice Dogs in Game 1 of the best-of-seven SIJHL final last night at the Ice For Kids Arena.
“On any night when you have everybody contributing in some manner, you have to be happy as a coach,” said Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan.
“The team came in focused and prepared to play.”
Lakers’ captain Miles Nolan, who had a goal, agreed.
“When you’re getting not only that secondary scoring, but scoring from the third and fourth lines, too, it makes it a lot easier to win championships,” said Nolan, who was last year’s SIJHL playoff MVP.
Game 2 goes tonight, with a special start time of 6:30 p.m.
The Lakers, who outshot Dryden 39-25, grabbed the lead three minutes into the first when Colton Spicer knocked the puck past Ice Dogs’ goalie Tate Sproxton after Matt Vela put it on net initially.
Dryden tied it midway through the period on Jonathan Philley’s rush off the left-wing that saw him beat Lakers’ netminder Nathan Park five-hole.
But a lucky bounce of an A.J. Kapcheck point shot found its way onto the stick of Miles Nolan, who buried it high to the glove side at 15:29.
Then 1:52 later, Spicer stole the puck just inside the Ice Dogs’ blueline and charged to the net—muscling a backhander on goal that turned into a juicy rebound for Vela, who backhanded the puck over Sproxton’s shoulder.
“Spicer, Vela, and [Bowen] Alcock came to play,” Strachan said about his fourth line that played like anything but last night.
“They got us going tonight and it gave a lift to the bench, and everyone followed after.”
Dryden controlled much of the second period after league MVP Cole Golka connected on a breakaway at 4:55.
But the Ice Dogs couldn’t net the equalizer and Mason Meyer later made them pay with a rocket from 30 feet out that whizzed past Sproxton stick-side for a 4-2 lead.
“That was a big momentum changer,” noted Vela.
“We really turned it on after that.”
After two periods without taking a penalty, the Lakers were whistled for four minors in the third.
But their penalty-killing came through each time to keep Dryden at bay.
“We stuck to the game plan and forced them to dump pucks in,” Strachan said about his team’s success while short-handed.
“We got good pressure on them to not allow them to set up.”
Bryson Jasper completed a pretty three-way passing play that went from Meyer to Dylan Robertson to Jasper in the slot, who had the open side of the net to convert on a power play at 12:12.
Marco Romano and Dylan Kooner hooked up for another highlight-reel goal at 16:53, with Romano moving the puck to Kooner in full stride and then getting to the net to one-time Kooner’s return feed past Sproxton.
Park finished with 23 saves for the win while Sproxton made 33 in defeat.
Lucas DeBenedet didn’t play a regular shift in the third period after re-aggravating his leg injury that kept him out the previous four games.
DeBenedet was to be re-evaluated today, with his status for tonight’s game questionable.
The Lakers will turn their attention from hockey to figure skating after tonight’s game.
They’ll pitch in to help decorate the IFK Arena for the Border Skating Club’s annual ice show, which goes tomorrow night and Sunday afternoon.
The assignment was part of the deal for the skating club having to surrender the ice for tonight’s game when it already had booked it for ice show preparations.
“It’s nice to give back and help them out for helping us,” said Nolan.
