Lucas Punkari
The Fort Frances Lakers finally earned a win in Spooner—and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
The Lakers became the first team to defeat the Wisconsin Wilderness in their home rink this season by grabbing a 4-2 victory last night in Game 1 of the best-of-seven SIJHL final.
After a scoreless first period, the Lakers jumped ahead 1-0 early in the second when forward Alex Bruess banged the puck past Wilderness goalie Tanner Milliron.
Henry Gutierrez then made it 2-0 about six minutes later.
With a 5-on-3 power play at their disposal, Fort Frances extended the lead to 3-0 just 79 seconds into the third as Gutierrez netted his second goal of the night.
Wilderness forward Mike Dietrich dashed Tyler Ampe’s shutout bid a few minutes later. Then following a time-out, Patrick Hurley blasted a shot home to cut the lead to 3-2 with 1:51 to go.
Despite having a power play in the final minute, the Wilderness were unable to score the tying goal. Instead, Byron Katapaytuk notched a short-handed empty net goal with 51 seconds left to snap Wisconsin’s home winning streak at 32-straight games.
Gutierrez and Katapaytuk led the Lakers with two-point nights while Ampe made 34 saves.
Zach Blaisdell assisted on both Wisconsin goals to pace the home side offensively, with Milliron turning aside 27 shots.
Game 2 of the series goes tonight at 7 p.m. in Spooner, with Games 3 and 4 taking place Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena here.
The winner of the series goes on to represent the SIJHL at this year’s Dudley Hewitt Cup, which will run April 17-21 at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay.
