Lucas Punkari
For the second time in as many meetings, the defending SIJHL champion Wisconsin Wilderness got the upper hand on the Fort Frances Lakers.
Their latest victory was a 3-1 triumph Tuesday night at the Ice For Kids Arena here.
The Lakers, who fell 5-1 to the Wilderness on Saturday night in Spooner, actually opened the scoring when Adam Wensley beat goalie Tanner Milliron in the first period.
But as the game wore on, the Lakers seemingly had no answer for the visitors’ offensive attack.
Anthony Calabrese knotted the score with a second-period marker before Andrew Anderson and Mike Dietrich tallied in the third to seal the win.
“I thought once we scored that goal in the first period, that we would get a little bit of a jump and battle hard to compete with them,” said Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan.
“But in the second period, we came out dismal and flat, and we looked just plain tired.
“There’s no excuse for the effort tonight [Tuesday], especially from some of the players that were out on the ice,” he stressed.
In fact, the final score could have been a lot higher in the Wilderness’ favour if it hadn’t been for the stellar work of Lakers’ goalie Tyler Ampe, who make 35 saves in a losing effort.
“He [Ampe] was probably the only reason we were in a position and had a chance to win this game,” Strachan remarked.
“In the last few games, Tyler might not of been himself out there but tonight [Tuesday] he was on his game and he kept us in it.”
The Lakers saw their record drop to 14-4-2 with Tuesday’s loss, and now only hold a two-point lead over the Wilderness (14-3-0) for top spot in the SIJHL.
For the Wilderness, the win also helped to take away the sting of a 6-3 loss they suffered here back on Sept. 23, when they allowed six unanswered goals in the third period.
“It was a little bit of a different game tonight [Tuesday] than the one we had earlier this season,” noted Wilderness head coach Rod Aldoff.
“We had some momentum in the second period, and we just kept on pushing and carrying that momentum all the way through the game.
“We never lost that drive and the guys battled right until the end,” he added.
The Lakers, meanwhile, will look to get back on track tonight in Chisholm when they face the expansion Iron Range Ironheads at 7:30 p.m.
Their next home game is slated for Tuesday (Nov. 15) at 7:30 p.m. against the Duluth Clydesdales.
