Joey Payeur
More people watched the Dudley Hewitt Cup here this past week than ever before in the tournament’s history.
Most of those had dreams of watching their favourite team make it onto the national stage for the first time dashed—not unlike the black-and-red clad players who came painstakingly close to fulfilling that goal.
The most successful season for local junior hockey ever came to an end Saturday night when the Fort Frances Lakers fell 3-2 to the Soo Thunderbirds in the tourney finale at the Ice For Kids Arena.
It was one step farther than the Lakers got last season—a semi-final loss in Wellington.
But it will be the Thunderbirds heading to Portage la Prairie, Man. for the start of the 2015 RBC Cup this Saturday.
The 1,357 people officially counted on Saturday who were jammed into the rink (a number that actually appeared closer to 1,500) helped break the previous attendance record for the Dudley Hewitt Cup—the Central Canada Junior ‘A’ championship.
Their volume, in terms of the jet engine-like noise they created, did not go unnoticed or unappreciated by those on the ice and behind the bench.
“Remarkable,” marvelled Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan.
“We couldn’t have asked for anything better out of the number of people who came to support us throughout the week,” he noted.
“It says a lot for the district and a lot for hockey in Fort Frances.
“It definitely helped the players get pumped up for the games,” Strachan added.
“We hope it has attracted more people into believing we are a great means of entertainment through the winter, and they come and support us next season.”
In a game that saw the Lakers missing six regulars, and having to use three alternate player call-ups, the home team kept battling back against a Thunderbirds’ team which had beaten them 6-3 during the round-robin portion of the tournament.
Following a scoreless first period, Nicolas Tassone broke the ice midway through the second with a shot that was flipped on net as almost an afterthought, with the puck sailing over the glove of a partially-screened Pierce Dushenko.
Wyatt Cota, who earned tournament MVP honours after leading all scorers with nine points in five games, answered at 14:51 after a great forechecking sequence by linemates Dylan Robertson and Nolan Ross.
Ross dug the puck loose and sent it to Cota, who then bulldozed his way across the ice through three defenders before wiring a shot past Soo goalie Mario Culina.
Tassone struck again at 18:14 when he shook free of Cota and Roshen Jaswal in front of the Lakers’ net and stuffed home a rebound of David Radke’s shot.
But the Lakers roared right back—tying the game at 2-2 just 43 seconds later when Cota’s shot from the right circle was deflected in by Nick Minerva.
“I can’t say enough . . . the guys just wouldn’t give up,” a proud but dejected Cota said after what was the final Lakers’ game for himself and six others whose junior eligibility has run out.
Fort Frances had a great chance to take the lead early in the third when Brett Jeffries plastered Lakers’ captain Miles Nolan into the corner at the very end of the second period to receive a minor for boarding.
But the home squad was unable to generate much with the power play—and paid for it soon after.
With the Lakers unable to clear their zone, Thunderbirds’ forward Boris Katchouk took possession of the puck and fed Matt Pinder busting in off the right-wing.
Pinder put a laser of a shot past Dushenko for the goal that ultimately sent the Thunderbirds to victory.
“That was the toughest game we’ve had all year,” admitted Soo head coach Jordan Smith, who used to face Fort Frances on a regular basis when he coached the Thunder Bay North Stars in 2012-13.
“We knew Fort was going to give us everything they had.
“It was an unbelievable job by the Fort all week,” Smith added.
“They’re a great hockey team and well-coached.”
Forwards Carter Chorney, Dylan Kooner, Colton Spicer, and Donovan Cousineau, along with defenceman Cody Antonini and the SIJHL’s top goalie and playoff MVP Nathan Park, all were stuck in the stands for the final.
As such, the Lakers were forced to insert forwards Turner Santin, who also played in Friday night’s semi-final, and Jack Bernie into the lineup, along with back-up goalie Brandon Bodnar—a trio who just finished their season with the Midget ‘AAA’ Kenora Thistles.
Dushenko, with the biggest skates to fill, performed valiantly since having to take over for Park in the first period of Thursday night’s 5-3 round-robin finale victory over the Dryden Ice Dogs when Kent Walchuk collided with him in the crease.
After making 43 saves in the Lakers’ 6-4 semi-final win over the defending tournament champion Toronto Patriots on Friday, Dushenko made another 41 stops to keep things close against the Soo.
But Strachan wouldn’t use the formidable task of playing five games in five days—with a slowly dwindling roster—as an excuse for his team not being able to travel to Portage la Prairie.
“You’ve got to expect that coming in that, unless you finish first, you’re going to play five in a row,” he remarked.
“The guys were in great condition. . . .
“Say what you will about the injuries but they’re part of the game,” Strachan added.
“But the guys who were out have certainly been contributors to our team this year.”
The Lakers finished with one regulation win (three points), one overtime win (two points), and one loss in the round-robin for five points.
That left them in third place in the standings behind the Soo (two regulation wins and a shootout loss for seven points) and the Patriots (one regulation win, one shootout win, and one overtime loss for six points).
Friday night’s semi-final win over Toronto, who had eliminated the Lakers last season, featured a first period that had Fort fans over the moon and the Patriots in a state of shock.
Marco Romano, Bryson Jasper, Ross, Robertson, and Cota staked the Lakers to a 5-0 lead just over 17 minutes into the game.
But Toronto clawed its way back into contention with goals by Quinn Syridiuk in the first, Kody Gagnon and Jeremy Pullara 44 seconds apart in the second, and then Mitch Emerson near the midpoint of the third to cut the lead to one.
But with the fingernails of Lakers’ fans chewed to bits, Robertson initiated an arena-wide exhalation of relief 18 seconds later.
Minerva chipped the puck off a Patriots’ player right to Robertson, who raced in on a breakaway and scored on a backhander.
When all was said and done, Strachan stressed his now two-time defending SIJHL championship team had surpassed the expectations of many.
“It’s not the outcome we wanted to see but I don’t think anyone expected us to be here tonight,” he remarked.
“I think we did a great job to rise to the occasion and give it all we had to win the hockey game.”
