The Fort Frances Lakers stayed in the win column Friday night after beating the Thunder Bay North Stars 7-1, but their win streak came to an end last night.
Gunnar Simon put the Lakers on the board in the first period when a Gavin Mowat point shot made it to the front of the net. Pierce Gouin also assisted on the goal.
The Lakers second goal, and eventual game winner came off a Max Caddo point shot, again lost in a crowd in front of the net with North Stars goalie Morgan Blackwood hardly having a chance to see it. Tie Schumacher assisted on the goal.
Lakers goaltender Brady Cates looked good from the start, making an early glove save which the North Stars players protested saying Cates’ glove had gone into the net. Cates stopped all 11 shots he faced in the first period while Blackwood stopped eight out of 10.
The Lakers looked good in the second frame but only managed to beat Blackwood once on 17 shots when Tie Schumacher potted a puck that came to him at the slot after a battle along the boards.
Cates stood tall, stopping all 13 shots rifled his way in the second.
Teagan Wrolstad broke fans’ hearts when he scored less than two minutes into the third period. Chosen as the Boston Pizza Laker to Watch for the game, if Wrolstad had scored in the first two periods there would have been a discount on beer at the game and at Boston Pizza afterwards. The goal was assisted by Carter Deschamps and Ronny Bender.
Simon Scored his second of the game unassisted a few minutes later.
Wrolstad would take the team’s scoring lead with his second of the game on the powerplay when he froze Blackwood and deked around him to put the Lakers up 5-0.
The North Stars would score their the shutout busting goal on the powerplay when Acoyen Fehr scored on a tic-tac-toe passing play off the faceoff.
Lakers captain Pierce Gouin would chase Blackwood out of the net with the team’s sixth goal, Ethan Mann finished the final four minutes between the pipes for Thunder Bay, not facing any shots.
The Lakers went one for five on the powerplay while the North Stars scored on one of their four opportunities.
Final shots were 43-35 in the Lakers favour.
Following the game Lakers head coach and general manager Luke Judson echoed previous sentiments saying he still thinks the team can take it up a notch.
“Being 5-0 is higher than we probably expected coming into the season,” he said.
“But ultimately we’re proud of how they’ve competed so far, but the sentiment kind of stays the same, I think we’ve got more to give. I think we’ve got more in the tank and we’re going to keep working to get the best team out there.”
Judson says Cates kept them in the game in the first and they might have been in a different situation.
“We talked after the first, kind of the message was without Brady back there doing his thing it’s probably a different story,” Judson said.
“We’re probably crawling back from a deficit. That’s been the story all year, goalies are holding their own when they have to and we’ve been scoring at opportune times. Goalies have been a big part of the five wins and we’re happy with what they’ve done, but again, ultimately there’s more work to do so we’re not putting ourselves in those situations.”
Judson says he’d like to see the skaters keep more alert on the ice.
“I think it’s a combination of things but ultimately, when we fall asleep a little bit it’s not good enough just to be standing beside your guy, you’ve got to pick up his stick. That’s kind of been our message all year, just being in position isn’t enough, especially in junior hockey so do your job and we’ll be ok.”
On Monday, Lakers goalie Nolan Koethler was named the league’s goalie of the month for September having posted a .958 save percentage, 1.44 Goals Against Average and 68 saves in two victories in his first two games of the season.
The Lakers also maintained the 10th overall spot on the CJHL top 20 rankings.
The Lakers had Saturday off, and played Tuesday night in Oliver Paipoonge where they lost against the Kam River Walleye 3-2 in a shootout, bringing their season record to 5-0-1.
