Staff
It took until the 11th hour, but the Fort Frances Lakers finally got some production from their top line.
Team captain and leading scorer Tyler Stevenson netted two goals, including the overtime winner, as the Lakers captured their first-round series against the K&A Wolverines with a 3-2 win in Game 7 yesterday in Thunder Bay.
The Lakers now advance to the SIJHL semi-finals against the Dryden Ice Dogs, who finished the double round-robin between the loop’s top three times with a 4-0 record.
That best-of-seven showdown kicks off Wednesday night in Dryden.
The Fort William North Stars will host the Sioux Lookout Flyers in the other semi-final series.
Stevenson, who led the Lakers with 21 goals during the regular season, had been held to just two assists for the better part of six games until he scored with 5:25 to go in Friday night’s 6-4 loss in Game 6 here.
That tilt was a see-saw affair as K&A jumped out to an early 2-0 lead.
Aaron Ross began the scoring at 5:18 when his shot slipped past Lakers’ goalie Jameson Shortreed while Matt Hunter slammed home a rebound at 14:26.
The Lakers got on the board at 16:03 when Henry Gutierrez popped an Irv Lockman rebound under the arm of Wolverines’ goalie Spencer Malone.
The second period belonged to the Lakers, who scored twice while outshooting K&A 15-6.
Mike Jourdain’s third of the playoffs tied things just as the first penalty of a 5-on-3 expired at the four-minute mark.
Fort Frances then took the lead late in the period when Blake Boaz took a feed from Byron Katapaytuk before he turned and fired a shot over Malone’s glove at 18:29.
The visitors came out charging in the third period, however, tallying three times in a 2:27 span.
Dustin Roy started things off at 2:27 before Hunter deflected his second of the game past Shortreed at 3:36.
Tim Harris kept the rally going at 4:54 with a wrister over Shortreed’s glove.
Hunter then completed the hat trick at 7:46 with a tip-in to put the Wolverines up 6-3.
The Lakers crawled closer at 14:35 when Stevenson pumped a Cody Edwards’ rebound past Malone, but that’s all the home team could muster—sending the series back to Thunder Bay for Game 7 yesterday.
Fortunately for Fort Frances, Stevenson kept the hot stick in the do-or-die showdown, scoring just 2:43 into the game.
But the Nico Anderson show began for K&A, as he tied the game at 15:36 of the first and then gave K&A the lead at 11:32 of the second.
With the clock ticking on the Lakers’ season, Matthew Caulfield’s first of the playoffs knotted the game at 14:01 to force overtime—paving the way for Stevenson’s heroics and a date with the Ice Dogs.
