Staff
The Fort Frances Lakers rolled lucky sevens on Tuesday night, with Lucas DeBenedet in control of the dice.
DeBenedet had his best night since rejoining the squad at the beginning of November, recording four points as the Lakers topped the host Minnesota Iron Rangers 7-5 for their seventh-straight victory.
With three assists already under his belt, DeBenedet made good on a man advantage at 15:48 of the second period to give Fort Frances (24-7-1) a 6-2 lead.
Mason Meyer (two goals) and Nick Minerva (one) each posted three-point nights for the Lakers, who also got goals from Marco Romano, Bryson Jasper, and A.J. Kapcheck.
Meyer’s second goal—a short-handed tally at 13:12 of the second to make it 5-1—chased Iron Rangers’ starter Bryan Abell after he only stopped 11 of 16 shots.
Minnesota’s power-play had a big hand in keeping the Iron Rangers (16-11-4) in contention in the latter stages of the game, converting on 4-of-6 opportunities.
Thomas Fazio had two goals for Minnesota, which now has lost three of its last four games.
Drew Millis, Seth Chumley, and Alez Arnold were the other snipers.
Pierce Dushenko made 33 saves to get the win.
The Lakers next head to Thunder Bay tomorrow to take on the second-place North Stars (19-12-4), who trail league-leading Fort Frances by seven points.
Fort Frances’ next home game is this Tuesday (Jan. 13) at 7:30 p.m. against the English River Miners.
