Staff
It’s been some trying times of late for the Fort Frances Lakers.
A pair of 5-2 losses to the visiting Thunder Bay North Stars and Red Lake Miners over the weekend extended the Lakers’ losing streak to four games.
Bryce Young and Ethan Stuckless each scored twice in the first period to lead the second-place Miners (15-4-0-0) to their fifth-straight victory Saturday night at the Ice For Kids Arena.
After Young opened the scoring just 1:12 into the game, Stuckless doubled the lead just over three minutes later when he buried a rebound over a sprawled out Matt Booth in the Lakers’ net.
Stuckless then skated into the Lakers’ zone before cutting across to the left side of the ice and rifling one home to make it 3-0.
Young notched his second of the frame short-handed after a Lakers’ turnover at their own blueline to put the visitors up by four after 20 minutes.
Noah Loveday finally put the Lakers on the board 14:46 into the second on a two-man advantage when he took a feed from Nate Drobnick and wired a shot past Miners’ goalie Zach Willms to trim it to 4-1.
But Spencer Milne put the Miners back up by four just 1:54 into the third when he snapped one in over Booth during their own two-man advantage.
Nick Lucas was able to bury a rebound upstairs over Willms at 11:23 to trim it to 5-2 but that’s as close as they Lakers got.
Willms made 42 saves to earn the win while Booth made 24 stops in a losing effort.
On Friday night, the visiting North Stars built a four-goal lead, then held off a late Lakers’ comeback bid, to nab their eighth-straight win.
Evan Nicholas opened the scoring when he netted one into the open side off a point shot that had careened off the end boards and bounced right out to him for a tap-in at 12:24.
Joel Willan (even strength) and Ryan Mignault (power play) then connected in the second to put the visitors up by three after 40 minutes.
Willan then sent Jacob Anttonen in on a shorthanded breakaway, which he made no mistake on in the third to make it 4-0.
Kirk Coppock’s eighth goal of the season finally put the Lakers on the board at 8:36.
Jaedin Ness then added another with Anttonen in the box as he finished off a nice three-way passing play from Lucas and Brett Hahkala.
The Lakers then pulled goalie Jacob Gnidziejko in the late stages in an effort to force overtime, but Mignault iced it with a long-range empty-netter at 19:25 to cap the scoring.
The North Stars outshot the Lakers by a 49-31 margin, with Brock Aiken picking up the win and Gnidziejko suffering the loss.
Up next is the annual SIJHL skills competition and all-star game, which is slated for this Wednesday at the Ice For Kids Arena.
The skills competition goes at 6 p.m., with the game to follow at 7:30.
The Lakers then will resume league action this Saturday (Dec. 1) when they head to Thunder Bay to take on the North Stars once again.
