Joey Payeur
It was a curious time for a time-out, but it was all part of the long-range plan.
With the Fort Frances Lakers well on their way to a 4-0 victory over the English River Miners here Saturday, head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan suddenly called for an impromptu team meeting at the bench with just over 3:30 left in the third period.
The message? The game’s not over and with the playoffs just over six weeks away, a 60-minute effort is a must no matter the score or the opponent.
“After the 12-minute mark of the third, we went into a bit of a lull,” noted Strachan, whose team is riding a seven-game winning streak in SIJHL play and held on to the No. 7 position in the CJHL’s latest top 20 weekly rankings.
“We allowed them [English River] to gain some momentum.
“We were probably feeling the effect of having to kill quite a few penalties earlier in the game,” he added, referring to the Lakers having to kill eight English River power plays compared to just four man-advantages for Fort Frances.
“We just weren’t thinking or making smart plays, but we settled it down and worked hard to get the shutout for ‘Bodsy,’” said Strachan.
That would be Brandon Bodnar, who may play behind starter Pierce Dushenko but who has looked anything but a rookie in his first Junior ‘A’ season.
The 18-year-old netminder from here leads all SIJHL goalies in GAA (1.76) and save percentage (.939) while compiling a solid 11-3 record.
“He’s been awesome,” lauded Lakers’ forward Jason Wilson.
“In practice every day, he takes it seriously and everyone here wants to make sure they’re playing hard for both goalies,” he added.
“It doesn’t matter which one of them plays.”
Strachan also appreciates Bodnar’s body of work so far.
“He has been steady and focused, and playing square to the puck,” he noted.
“He had a couple of big saves in the second and was calm and quiet in the crease, and didn’t give them second opportunities,” Strachan added.
“A lot of shots were generated from the outside and the defence clamped down and helped him out.”
Cole Tymkin (power play) and Ryley Bosman gave the Lakers an early lead.
Then Dylan Robertson, the SIJHL’s leading scorer who was named the league’s performer-of-the-week on Monday for the first time this season, drilled a short-handed marker at 18:52 to make it 3-0.
“We worked hard but we came out slow,” said Miners’ head coach and general manager Derek Sweet-Coulter, whose team hasn’t won in eight tries against the Lakers this season.
“We battled hard and proved we could be competitive, but we just couldn’t score.”
Tymkin added a second power-play goal at 11:37 of the second.
“For the most part 5-on-5, especially through the first, one of the keys for us was to pressure their defence and create turnovers which led to more scoring opportunities for us,” noted Strachan.
“Hopefully, that will continue with that once the playoffs start.”
On Friday night, A.J. Rupert came back to haunt his old team as he had four points in a 7-4 victory over the host Minnesota Iron Rangers.
Rupert, who spent the last two seasons with Minnesota, notched the game-winner two minutes into the third.
He later added an empty-netter with 48 seconds left as the Lakers scored three times in the third to snap a 4-4 tie.
Robertson also tallied twice in that one while Jack Bernie (shorthanded), Bosman, and Brandon Zajicek had one apiece.
Dushenko made 23 stops to improve to 21-3 on the season.
Despite their recent success, Strachan believed there are parts of the Lakers’ game that still needs some fine-tuning, such as in the face-off circle.
“Our work on face-offs has kind of been up and down, depending who we play,” he remarked.
“Since mid-January, we’ve set goals for every game, one of them being we want to be at least 60-62 percent on draws,” Strachan explained.
“We’ve only achieved that twice.
“That’s not only about the centre winning the draw, but the wingers and the defence helping out with the puck to make sure we get to it first,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, with defenceman Robbie Bonthron (jaw) already sidelined indefinitely, the Lakers took another hit to their defensive corps.
Roshen Jaswal will be out for at least two week with a sprained wrist that he tried to play through at the “SIJHL Showcase” two weeks ago.
Forward Dylan Kooner (scapula) remains out indefinitely.
The first-place Lakers (32-6-0-1) next host the Thunder Bay North Stars (22-19-0-3) on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
That will be followed by a rare afternoon game Monday as the second-place Dryden GM Ice Dogs (25-11-3-2) visit for a special Family Day matinee contest at 2:30 p.m.
The Ice Dogs are 10 points back of the Lakers after having to forfeit their 5-4 shootout win Friday against Thunder Bay.
Dryden was deemed to have used two affiliate players in forward Jett Leishman and defenceman Hayden Johnston, who were both 15 years old when the season began.
Instead, the North Stars were credited with a 1-0 win although the statistics recorded by both teams in the game still count.
