Joey Payeur
Wayne Strachan was getting all kinds of advice on who to put on the ice as last night’s shootout carried on—both from nearby and far away.
The head coach and general manager of the Fort Frances Lakers finally gave in and it paid off with two points.
Nick Minerva scored the decisive goal in the ninth round, then Pierce Dushenko stoned Tanner Watt to end it, as the Lakers claimed a 7-6 victory over the visiting Dryden GM Ice Dogs last night.
“[Minerva] was calling his own number for a couple of rounds,” smiled Strachan, whose Lakers (15-2) now have won eight-straight games.
“Then I heard [injured forward Dylan] Robertson chirping from the stands the same thing.”
Strachan gave Minerva his shot and the blueliner pulled off a double deke before lifting a forehand over the catching glove of Ice Dogs’ goalie Taylor Unruh.
“That was my signature move, that’s all I’m going to say,” grinned Minerva, who had two assists in regulation time.
“I had been bugging [Strachan] for four or five rounds, so I figured I had better answer the bell,” he noted.
Dushenko sent the fans home happy when he robbed Watt with an outstanding glove save from in tight.
“Pierce was unbelievable,” Minerva said of Dushenko, who denied eight out of the nine Dryden shooters.
“He knows he probably should have had their first two goals [in regulation], but the other four were all second, third, and fourth opportunities,” Minerva added.
“We have to be stronger moving guys off the puck,” he stressed.
The Lakers made short work of Ice Dogs’ starting goalie Paul Laferriere—erasing Troy
Williams’ opening goal for Dryden 51 seconds into the first with a pair of power-play tallies 56 seconds apart by Brandon Zajicek and Christian Ripley.
Nic Noseworthy tied it later in the first but Julian Uhryniuk wired a wrist shot past Laferriere to make it 3-2, bringing about the switch to Unruh.
The teams split a four-goal second period.
Jack Bernie and a power-play goal by Andrew Willner, whose shootout goal in the third round kept the Lakers alive long enough for Minerva’s later heroics, were countered by two more from Noseworthy.
Shakeel Ebrahim ripped a shot off the left post and in midway into the third to tie the game at 5-5.
Ripley looked to have the game-winner at 16:10 after deflecting Dustin Deugau’s point shot, which was set up on a Gretzky-like spin move and pass inside the Dryden blueline by Cole Tymkin,
But Blake Berg knotted the game again at 18:02 on an Ice Dogs’ power play when he batted home the rebound of Derek McPhail’s blast from the point.
The first-place Lakers, who now lead the Ice Dogs by five points with a game in hand, lost Zajicek to a possible concussion after the defenceman took a hit near the Dryden bench in the first period.
He was to be examined further today, with his status currently listed as “day-to-day.”
The Lakers were without Robertson, who has his own post-concussion issues right now, and fellow forward Francois Lemelin (’flu) last night.
Strachan said it’s likely the pair won’t be back until at least the Lakers’ Nov. 24 road game against Minnesota, although the schedule is kind as the team has a 10-day break following their game tomorrow night in Hoyt Lake.
Their next home game is Nov. 27 against Dryden.
