Lucas Punkari
The Minnesota Wilderness may be entrenched in first place but four teams are in the race for second place in the SIJHL standings.
And while there’s still a long way to go, the Fort Frances Lakers made a big statement Friday night in Hoyt Lakes, defeating the host Minnesota Iron Rangers 4-1 to move into third place.
“The difference in this game compared to some of others recently was that we played to our game plan,” noted Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan.
“We were intense and we had all of our players put in a 60-minute effort,” he noted.
“It was only 1-0 through two periods but I thought we had the upper hand territorial-wise, and we had many grade ‘A’ chances that we just couldn’t capitalize on.
“I thought we played our best period in the third, though, and we scored some timely goals to help our cause,” Strachan added.
With the win, the Lakers (19-13-1-2) improved to 41 points on the season—two ahead of the Thunder Bay North Stars.
The Iron Rangers sit just another point behind the North Stars.
The Dryden Ice Dogs (23-16-0-1) currently are in second place, six points up on Fort Frances although the Lakers do hold five games in hand.
Leading the way Friday night was recently-acquired forward Tyler Brodersen, who scored a pair of goals in just his second game for his new team.
“I thought Tyler kind of started the game off slow but he picked it up as the game it went on,” Strachan said of the 18-year-old Brodersen, who was acquired from the NAHL’s Soo Eagles on Jan. 10.
“The first goal came on a play where he was able to read that he could walk around the net and come out to attack from the other side, and he was able to beat the goalie [Chase Hollander] short side.
“His second goal came on a line rush where it ended up being a two-on-one play and he able to bury it stick side on the goalie.
“He has an offensive touch to his game and he has played well since joining the team,” Strachan added.
Colton Spicer and Kevin Kurm also scored for the Lakers while fellow forwards Payton Ruter and Miles Nolan helped the cause with a pair of assists each.
“Payton and Miles were moving their feet and working hard, and as a result they both had two assists on the night,” Strachan said.
“As a staff, we thought Jon Carlson played one of his better games in some time. And his ‘D’ partner, Jon Bachman, made some big physical plays for us throughout the game.
“For the most part, though, all 20 players that dressed played a big part in one way or another to get the victory,” he lauded.
Lakers’ goalie Tanner Hamilton also turned in a strong performance Friday night, with a third-period goal by Gus Karkinen being the lone blemish on a 26-save outing.
“I think that Tanner would like to have that goal back as it was kind of a fluke, but he was into the action and focused for his start,” Strachan noted.
“He was aggressive on the puck, challenging, and cutting down angles, and Tanner is at his best when he plays like that.
“Tanner seems to play well in Hoyt Lakes as he has been solid in his last two starts there,” he added.
The Lakers also were scheduled to play the Duluth Clydesdales here Saturday night but the game was postponed to a later date late Friday afternoon.
The Clydesdales, who only have two wins so far this season, cancelled both of their games over the weekend due to a lack of players.
Since that announcement, rumours have circulated regarding the state of the franchise, which have included the team either closing up shop or being suspended from play by the league itself.
The SIJHL had yet to release an official statement on the matter as of press time, but the Clydesdales’ organization said it hoped to be back in action last night, when they were scheduled to visit the North Stars.
In the meantime, the Lakers are getting ready for a three-game road swing, which will kick off Friday night in Thunder Bay.
That will be followed by a return trip to Hoyt Lakes on Saturday and then a game Wednesday (Jan. 30) in Dryden.
“These are big games for us as they are against the three teams we are battling for to try and secure second place in the standings,” Strachan stressed.
“Thunder Bay is a place where it’s never easy to go in and win a hockey game, and we need to prepare for a hard-fought game as Thunder Bay has been playing well as of late,” he warned.
“On Saturday against the Iron Rangers, we will need to take the same effort that we put in on Friday in their rink.
“And our third game against the Ice Dogs will be one against a team that we need to pick up some confidence against,” he added.
“We have let some games slip away against them [Dryden] in the past and that is the team we need to catch at this point for second place” Strachan noted.
