Jamie Mountain
Don’t look now but the Fort Frances Lakers have themselves a bit of a winning streak.
The Lakers swept a home-and-home series with the last-place Minnesota Iron Rangers over the weekend and now have won three-straight games.
Adam Withers had a goal and two assists to help the Lakers edge the Iron Rangers 4-3 on Friday night at the Ice For Kids Arena.
Jack Bernie also had a multi-point game, contributing a goal and a helper.
Bernie who opened the scoring Friday, snapping his ninth of the season past former Lakers’ goalie Rob Ivy at 6:08 of the first period, with Withers and Christian Ward drawing the assists.
Withers made it 2-0 just over a minute later when he buried a power-play marker for his third goal as a Laker.
Defenceman Jack Dunnell then widened the margin to three when he beat Ivy top-shelf at 15:56 on a power play.
The Lakers outshot Minnesota 19-7 in the first period.
Zac Horn trimmed it to 3-1 just 1:16 into the second before Bryce Litke made it a one-goal game at 7:35 of the third.
But Jaedin Ness regained the Lakers’ two-goal lead when he netted his 16th goal of the season at 12:06.
Eli Kinsman cut it to 4-3 just over a minute later but that’s as close as the Iron Rangers would get.
Ismael Ralsten earned the win between the pipes, finishing with 29 saves.
Ivy stopped 38 shots in taking the loss.
Then Saturday night produced an even better result for the Lakers as they cruised to a 6-2 win down in Hoyt Lakes.
Nick Lucas and Fort native Noah Loveday both had three-point nights to pace the Lakers, who improved to 9-20-1-3 but still remain in fifth place in the six-team SIJHL.
Iron Rangers’ captain Mark Sanchez opened the scoring Saturday with a short-handed goal 5:05 into the first period.
Lucas knotted the score at 10:51 when he buried a power-play feed from Withers and Ian Tookenay.
Sanchez then put the Iron Rangers back in front with 44 seconds left in the frame.
But the Lakers responded with three goals in the second period, getting singles from Ward, Loveday, and a power-play marker from Lucas to build a 4-1 cushion.
Ness and Ian Jarvis (power play) added third-period markers to cap the scoring.
Ralsten once again picked up the win, stopping 19 shots while Ivy finished with 40 saves in suffering the defeat.
Shots on goal heavily favoured the Lakers by a 46-21 margin.
The Lakers are back in Hoyt Lakes again this Thursday to face those same Iron Rangers for a third-straight game.
The Thief River Falls Norskies (28-3-0-0) and Dryden GM Ice Dogs lead the league with 56 points.
The Thunder Bay North Stars (19-11-3-0) are in third place with 41 points, followed by the English River Miners (13-14-0-4) in fourth at 30.
Minnesota (3-26-1-2) sits mired in the basement with just nine points.
