Lucas Punkari
The championship quest for the Fort Frances Lakers came to an end last night in Spooner as the Wisconsin Wilderness earned a 4-3 win in Game 7 of the SIJHL final to capture their second-consecutive Bill Salonen Cup.
The loss was doubly tough for the Lakers. Not only did they come up short in their bid to win their first league crown, they also were unable to seal the title after holding a 3-1 series lead.
Mike Dietrich opened up the scoring for Wisconsin at the 12:19 mark of the first period, with Nick Drill beating Lakers’ goalie Tyler Ampe twice in the second to give the Wilderness a 3-0 lead.
The Lakers, who outshot the Wilderness 20-10 in the second stanza, spoiled the shutout bid of Wisconsin goalie Tanner Milliron with six seconds left in the period when Henry Gutierrez found the back of the net.
SIJHL player-of-the-year Byron Katapaytuk cut the deficit to one early in the third period, but Dietrich helped Wisconsin regain its three-goal lead a few minutes later with a power-play marker.
With the Lakers bringing out the extra attacker in the final minutes, Jordan Christianson tallied with 1:10 to go. But the visitors were unable to get another marker to force overtime.
Dietrich and Drill paced the Wilderness with two-goal nights while fellow forward Zach Blaisdell chipped in with a pair of assists.
Christianson led the Lakers with a goal and an assist, with SIJHL rookie-of-the-year Jordan Larson adding a pair of helpers.
Both goalies were sharp for their respective sides, with Milliron making 35 saves for the Wilderness and Ampe turning aside 26 shots.
The Wilderness now will prepare for the Dudley Hewitt Cup, which gets underway next Tuesday afternoon at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay.
The Thunder Bay North Stars will be there as the tournament host, with the Soo Thunderbirds representing the NOJHL.
The OJHL representative is still to be determined.
The Stouffville Spirit hold a 3-2 series lead over the Whitby Fury, with Game 6 taking place tomorrow night in Whitby.
The Dudley Hewitt Cup champ then will compete in the Royal Bank Cup, which will be held May 5-13 in Humboldt, Sask.
