Joey Payeur
The importance of never underestimating one’s opponent was made crystal clear to the Fort Frances Lakers this past weekend—and they didn’t even have to be on the ice to get the point.
In an upset of seismic proportions, the West Kelowna Warriors ousted the Penticton Vees in six games in their BCHL quarter-final, closing it out Saturday with a 4-3 victory.
These would be the same Vees who were the defending BCHL champs, who came within a double-overtime goal against of reaching the RBC Cup final last year, and who ranked at the top of the CJHL’s top 20 weekly rankings for six-straight weeks earlier this season.
Not one bit of this was lost on the two-time defending SIJHL champion Lakers, who begin their post-season quest for a “three-peat” on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena in Game 1 of the best-of-seven SIJHL semi-finals.
“Penticton has the top scorer in the league and one of the top defencemen,” noted Lakers’ defenceman Nick Minerva, whose team will face either the English River Miners or the Minnesota Iron Rangers (they square off in the fifth-and-deciding game of their first-round series tonight in Hoyt Lakes).
“[Head coach Wayne Strachan] reiterated to us at practice that if we don’t play our game like we can, we’ll be packing bags and going home, too,” Minerva added.
The Lakers were a perfect 14-0 against English River in their season series and an almost-flawless 13-0-0-1 against Minnesota en route to a third-straight regular-season title.
But Strachan is perfectly content with throwing those numbers out like swept-up dust during a spring cleaning binge.
“Just goes to show you that what takes place in the regular season doesn’t matter when it comes to this time of year,” he said.
“The intensity of everyone is elevated and if you’re not ready to work, stay focused, and earn your wins, then you may be surprised.
“Hopefully, seeing something like this happen gets our guys to put things in perspective and work hard this week to get themselves prepared to go to battle,” Strachan added.
Some might see the Lakers sitting pretty entering the semi-final with 12 days’ rest since their regular-season finale while either the Miners or Iron Rangers will come in 48 hours after having gone the distance in round one.
Strachan sees it from a different angle.
“You never want to be away from games this long,” he warned.
“We gave the players some much-deserved time off away from the rink, but also have worked hard to continue to prepare with what we are doing in practice,” he added.
“When you’re playing a team that is coming off just having played, and at the intensity of playoff hockey already, the layoff makes it tough,” Strachan admitted.
“We need now to start thinking about Game 1 and Period 1—and that needs to be our focus,” he stressed.
The time off has been a benefit in terms of Strachan having all his players ready.
Forwards A.J. Rupert (post-concussion syndrome) and Jaden Gustafson (back), along with defenceman Brandon Zajicek (undisclosed injury), are expected to return Friday, along with rookie sensation Cole Tymkin (two-game suspension).
That leaves only veteran blueliner Robbie Bonthron (post-concussion syndrome) parked on the sidelines, with no timetable set for his return.
“I think you always want the opportunity to have the strongest 20 guys on the ice that makes your team successful,”
said Strachan.
“So in having some time off to prepare for Game 1, it gives us the chance to get healthy and put together what we feel will be the lineup we need to compete to have success.
“Our defensive pairings will not change much,” he noted.
“But we are going to approach our forward lines with the idea of balance, in which all four lines can compete against our opponents whomever they have out there.”
Whether it’s English River or Minnesota, Strachan knows his team will have its work cut out.
“Both teams are similar in the way that they both work hard from the drop of the puck until the final buzzer,” he remarked.
“With Minnesota, they play a strong pressure game and force their opponents into trying to turn over pucks and make mistakes.
“If you are not prepared for this, then you will be in trouble getting things to happen or getting things going,” he warned.
“With English River, you have to keep your focus on your game plan and playing at a high level of pace,” Strachan added.
“They are a team that works, is physical, and battles to create their chances.”
While still eight wins away, a third-straight SIJHL title for the Lakers would match the Fort William North Stars (2004-06) and the Wisconsin/Minnesota Wilderness (2011-13) for the longest title runs in the league’s 15-year history.
“For the organization, it means all the hard work by many people to make this team go is rewarded,” Strachan noted.
“It shows, really, what a small-market team can achieve when a district gets behind them.
“For me, it will be the satisfaction of this group of guys earning something that they will never forget in their lifetime,” he said.
“The best thing in sport is winning together as a team.”
In the other semi-final series, the second-place Dryden GM Ice Dogs will have home-ice advantage against the third-place Thunder Bay North Stars.
The first two games of that series goes Saturday and Sunday in Dryden.
The series then moves to Thunder Bay for Games 3 and 4 on April 7-8.
