Staff
It probably was much closer than it should have been.
The Fort Frances Lakers were taken to the limit by the woeful Minnesota Iron Rangers but still managed to leave Hoyt Lakes with a 5-4 victory last night.
Minnesota (6-43-2) put up a furious fight but still suffered its 22nd-straight loss.
The Lakers (23-21-2-4), meanwhile, won for the fourth game in five games to pull within four points of the fourth-place English River Miners (26-20-1-3).
Cody Merritt’s goal at 15:08 of the third period to make it 5-3 turned out to be crucial as Clayton Brown pulled the Iron Rangers to within one with 1:44 left right after pulling goalie Sean Angle.
But Lakers’ goalie Brandon Bodnar slammed the door shut after that.
Ian Jarvis gave the Lakers a 1-0 lead at 3:09 of the first but Minnesota answered with markers from Brendan Bombay (shorthanded) at 6:26 and Brown at 8:17.
Brett Pickler connected on the power play at 15:29 to tie the game at 2-2 going into intermission.
Jonathan Yanovsky struck with the man advantage at 7:27 of the second to put the hosts back in front.
But Tanner Garnham got his first goal of the season at 18:13 to even things up again.
Tyler Malpass then made it 4-3 at 1:01 of the third with the Lakers’ second power-play goal of the night.
Ryan Gazich and Julian Uhryniuk had two assists each for the Lakers.
In a scheduling quirk due to a previous postponement, the Lakers will head right back to Hoyt Lakes tomorrow night to face the Iron Rangers.
Then they’ll host the first-place Dryden GM Ice Dogs on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
The team also will hold its annual awards banquet Saturday at 1 p.m. at La Place Rendez-Vous.
