Lucas Punkari
Having won their last three regular-season games while setting a franchise high win total with 37, it would be easy for the Fort Frances Lakers to rest on their laurels heading into the playoffs.
But with a pair of two-game, total-goal mini-series against the league champion Wisconsin Wilderness slated for the next two weekends, the Lakers already are focusing on the next task at hand.
“Last year when we had the same series with Wisconsin, we went in with a bit of a laid-back mentality and thinking, ‘If we win it, we win it,’” recalled Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan.
“This year, though, we are going in with the mentality that we are going to win this series, as we have brought our game in our last two games against Wisconsin and put ourselves in a good situation,” he noted.
“We will do whatever we can in order to choose who we play in the semi-finals,” Strachan vowed. “And if we just bring our intensity into these games, we should be fine.”
The Lakers wrapped up the regular season on a winning note here Saturday night when Henry Gutierrez scored with 11 seconds left in regulation time to give his team a 4-3 victory over the Thunder Bay North Stars.
“I got the puck at the blueline and after being stopped [by North Stars’ goalie Carter McEachern] a few minutes earlier, I just drove towards the net to try again,” Gutierrez recalled.
“I was able to make a move on him and go the puck low blocker slide as I was diving towards the ice, and I’ll take that every time,” he smiled.
“Henry was probably our most consistent player in the game,” Strachan noted. “He had several chances in the second period, along with some point-blank chances in the third period that he was unable to capitalize on.
“But he was able to cash in at the end when we needed him to,” Strachan added.
Gutierrez’s goal also allowed the Lakers to achieve one of their goals, which was to win their last home game of the regular season.
“It wasn’t one of our best games, but we found a way to win,” said Strachan. “And to do it with 11 seconds
remaining made it that much more dramatic.
“We had a lot of chances late in the game prior to that but we just couldn’t bury them, and their goalie [McEachern] made a lot of big saves in the third,” he noted.
Blake Boaz, Brett McMahon, and Jordan Christianson also scored for the Lakers.
On Thursday night, the Lakers kicked off their final homestand of the regular season with a 4-2 triumph over the Sioux Lookout Flyers—a team that had given the red-and-white fits during the campaign.
“They are a similar team to Dryden [Ice Dogs] in a sense as they always give us trouble,” Strachan said.
“In the first and second period, I didn’t care too much for our defensive game as I thought we gave them a few too many chances with some bad turnovers, and that is something we will need to shore up going into the playoffs,” he remarked.
“But in third, we rebounded defensively and stepped up our physical game, which was good to see, and getting a win like that always helps to build confidence.”
Byron Katapaytuk, the SIJHL player-of-the-year and scoring champ, led the way with a pair of goals and an assist, with Christianson and Merritt Rysavy also tallying.
Heading into their first two-game series with the Wilderness, which will go this Friday and Saturday night in Spooner, the Lakers will welcome starting goalie Tyler Ampe back into the lineup after he sat out the last three games due to a suspension.
But the squad still is waiting to see whether forward Adam Wensley will be able to suit up for the series. He has been out of action due to a lower-body injury since a game against Wisconsin on Feb. 18.
“Adam’s getting better and I know he wants to play, but we want to make sure that he’s rested up and heals for as long as possible,” Strachan said.
“We don’t want to rush him right away and have him come back for the series with Wisconsin if he is not ready to go as we need him for the semi-final round in order to have him be a key part to our success,” he stressed.
