Jamie Mountain
The Fort Frances Lakers (6-19-1-1) are hoping better days lie ahead.
Given the squad ended the first half of the SIJHL regular season mired in a 10-game losing streak, any type of good fortune early on in 2018 would be a welcome gift.
Head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan believes the team should have done much better than what its record showed.
“[I was] frustrated as I believe we underachieved in a big way,” Strachan admitted about the team’s first half.
“I believe we are a better team than six wins.
“But we didn’t play the right way consistently,” he stressed.
“And away from the rink, I don’t believe we have made the right choices to helping ourselves become better people and players, which has translated to how we play on the ice and reflects our record in a big manner.”
At the beginning of the season, Strachan said he laid out the identity he would like the team to play to: being competitive, hungry, relentless, resilient, prepared, and disciplined.
In order to have success in the second half, he believes the team will need to work on honing that identity.
“As a coaching staff, we are not abandoning our goals we set from the beginning of the season,” Strachan stressed.
“As far as practice, we have to have a better work ethic and compete level, and carry that over into our games,” he remarked.
“We will work hard on our team defensive game and special teams.”
The Lakers return from the Christmas break tonight when they host the last-place Minnesota Iron Rangers (2-23-1-2) at 7:30 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
Ironically, that was the last team the Lakers beat–a 5-3 decision back on Nov. 10.
Tonight’s game could go a long way in the team’s attempt to get back on track and Strachan knows it will be a good challenge for his club.
“Versus Minnesota, our focus will be tested right off the bat and we will see how dedicated our players were over the Christmas break,” he said.
“But the biggest challenge will be to get our compete level high [enough] to compete at this level of play coming off a long break.
“We will push the players hard the next two days leading up to [tonight’s] game, challenge them, take them out of their comfort level, and get them back up to speed system-wise as quick as we can,” Strachan noted.
After tonight’s game, the Lakers next will face the second-place Dryden GM Ice Dogs (20-3-4-1) in a pair of back-to-back games there–the first coming this Saturday night and the second one on Monday (Jan. 8).
Strachan hopes tonight’s game against the Iron Rangers can give his squad some momentum heading into both games in Dryden.
“Hopefully we can have success on home ice and meet the early challenge the Rangers will bring, and have some momentum heading into Dryden for back-to-back games in their building, which is a huge challenge early on in the second half,” Strachan conceded.
“They are tough in their own building, and it will be a good measure for our team to see where we stand and how bad we want to compete and get better,” he reasoned.
“Again, we hope a win can lift our spirits, and we will work hard at the little things to compete and try and steal a game early on in Dryden.”
