Lucas Punkari
Thanks to a 9-1-0-1 record in October, the Fort Frances Lakers quickly have made their winless start to the SIJHL season in September a thing of the past.
After downing the host Dryden Ice Dogs 6-4 on Monday night, the Lakers now sit in second place in the six-team loop—nine points behind the league-leading Minnesota Wilderness, although the Lakers do have three games in hand on the defending Bill Salonen Cup winners.
“I think the biggest thing in our success is hard work,” said Lakers’ captain Merritt Rysavy.
“We made some changes to the lineup and we have added some players here, and everything is coming together here now and the guys are filling into their roles nicely,” he noted.
Their most recent triumph Monday night stemmed largely from a dominant third period, outshooting the Ice Dogs 7-0 while getting a pair of goals from Patrick Sofer.
“We started off the game a bit flat, and as a result we gave them some early momentum,” said Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan.
“In the second period, I didn’t think that we played as a good as we did in the later part of the first and we had to fight back again to tie the game up,” he noted.
“After the second intermission, we talked about getting control in the third period and not looking back, and we did a pretty good job of that in securing the victory.”
Mason Meyer and Jacob Nolan each added a goal and an assist for the Lakers, with fellow forwards Alex Bruess and Kevin Kurm also scoring in helping the Lakers win their fifth-straight game.
Goalie Jameson Shortreed, meanwhile, turned aside 27 shots to earn his third-straight win between the pipes since rejoining his local team Oct. 17.
The Lakers had made it four-straight Saturday night by doubling the Minnesota Iron Rangers 6-3 at the Ice For Kids Arena thanks to five goals over the second and third periods.
“I thought that we seemed lackadaisical and not interested, maybe, during the first 30 minutes,” Strachan recalled.
“They are a team that plays a feisty and in-your-face type of game, and we have to match that intensity and play at a higher tempo than they can,” he stressed.
“You saw what happened during the second and third period when we play at that pace.”
Davis Smith, Jordan Christianson, and Rysavy led the way on offence with a goal and an assist, with Kurm chipping in with two helpers.
Sofer, Bruess, and Meyer also lit the lamp in the victory.
“I thought that Davis played well throughout the entire game, and he was able to score the go-ahead goal for us in the second period through hard work,” Strachan noted.
“Merritt played better than he has had in the last couple of games, and I thought that the play of Owen Stauber has just been getting better and better,” he added.
“It’s been interesting to see how he has adapted this quickly to this level.”
The Lakers also became the first team to beat the Wilderness at their own rink in Cloquet, Mn. last Wednesday night, leaving the Northwoods Credit Union Arena with a 4-3 victory.
“It was definitely a good time for us,” Smith smiled.
“In the second period, we started hitting them more and that allowed us to open up chances and we just started to bury some pucks,” he added.
“It’s always good to beat them in their own rink, and that might have been the first time that has happened for them.”
After trading goals throughout the game, Meyer netted the go-ahead marker near the halfway point of the third period, with Shortreed making 11 saves during the final minutes to help his team earn the win.
“We kind of got a little bit of a break on the game-winner as Mason slapped a backhand on a rebound attempt and it rolled over the top of their goalie [Gordie Defiel] and into the net,” Strachan admitted.
“[But] I thought that we played a pretty good hockey game for the last 40 minutes, and while it was kind of an ugly road win, we will take the two points,” he stressed.
Meyer led the Lakers’ attack with a goal and two assists, with Kurm, Nolan, and Colton Spicer also beating Defiel.
In related news, the Lakers added a new player to their lineup by acquiring 18-year-old forward Miles Nolan from the NOJHL’s Abitibi Eskimos on Friday.
“We were looking for a third-line centre that could come in and play with Sofer and [Brendan] Cawston, and Miles seemed like a good fit,” Strachan explained.
“He has a little bit of skill and he’s a good skater, and he also has a very good hockey sense out there, which is good to see.”
Nolan, who joins his other brother, Jacob, on the Lakers’ roster, earned an assist in Monday’s win over the Ice Dogs for his first point with his new team.
Meanwhile, the Lakers parted ways with two players this week, dealing defenceman Kyle Salmon to the Elliot Lake Bobcats of the NOJHL and releasing forward Matt Lord.
“We were running with nine defencemen and we had to make some decisions when it came to our import players, and that hurt Kyle,” Strachan noted.
“But he’ll have a good opportunity to prove himself in Elliot Lake, and he’ll help out their hockey team.
“With Matt, it was just a situation where we had a guy that came into camp, worked hard to make the team, and then had an unlucky injury with his back that forced him to miss time,” Strachan added.
“When he came back, he didn’t seem like the same player that he was during training camp, and he also ended up being that odd man out for us as we were bringing Miles in.”
The Lakers currently are preparing for two more meetings with the Ice Dogs this weekend, starting with a 7:30 p.m. tilt here Friday.
The two squads then will clash again Saturday night in Dryden.
“To see them two more times this week, I am sure that the rivalry will only get more intense,” Strachan said.
“There were many missed calls tonight [Monday] that outraged both sides of the ice, and that led to some intense play by both teams,” he noted.
