Staff
The Fort William Gardens was an unwelcoming site for the Fort Frances Lakers this season—and this past weekend didn’t help matters.
The Lakers lost to the Fort William North Stars 5-0 on Friday night and then 7-2 on Saturday to finish 0-6 at Fort William in the season.
The North Stars (42-5-1) outscored the Lakers 47-13 over the course of those six games.
Fort Frances (13-28-5) began the weekend with three games in hand on the fourth-place K&A Wolverines (Thunder Bay), trailing by six points.
With the Wolverines idle over the weekend, the Lakers now only hold one game in hand over K&A, meaning the two-game set for here this Friday and Saturday (Feb. 19-20) will do a lot to determine playoff seeding as the SIJHL regular season winds down.
Under the league’s playoff format, the fourth- and fifth-place teams face off in the first round while the top three play off for the right to choose their opponent in the second round.
With K&A sitting five points behind the Sioux Lookout Flyers for third place, a Wolverine-Laker showdown in the first round is looking more and more likely by the day.
In Friday night’s 5-0 defeat, the Lakers held tough through the first period as both teams failed to tally.
The North Stars broke it open in the second, though, as SIJHL goal-scoring leader Ryan Magill beat Lakers’ goalie Jameson Shortreed just 1:53 into the frame.
Adam Restoule put Fort William up 2-0 before Magill’s second of the game made it a three-goal cushion.
Jordan Davis beat Shortreed before the period was through.
Magill completed the hat trick on the North Stars’ lone power-play of the game, tallying at 5:01 of the third.
Shortreed stopped 33 shots while Guillaume Piche turned aside all 15 Lakers’ shots for his fifth shutout of the season.
Magill kept going in Saturday’s rematch, putting one past Lakers’ starter T.J. Pocock just 52 seconds into the game.
Travis Savard made it 2-0 at 6:41 before Ryan Pearson followed a mere 43 seconds later.
With that, Pocock was pulled without recording a save, giving way to Shortreed.
The switch had no positive effect early as Shortreed allowed a goal to Randall Hanlan on his only test of the frame.
But Shortreed more than made up for it in the second, getting in the way of 37 shots in the period alone.
Still, the North Stars beat him three times, beginning with Davis at 6:17.
After Eli Halcrow made it 6-0, Tim Hennessey beat Fort William’s Jayme Brattengeier at 7:56 to put the Lakers on the board with his fifth of the season.
Ryan Pearson regained the North Stars’ six-goal cushion at 9:04, but Fort Frances’ Blake Boaz rounded out the scoring with his eighth of the season at 10:54.
Neither team was able to tally for the remaining period-and-a-half.
Shortreed made 52 saves in relief of Pocock while Brattengeier made seven before leaving the game after Hennessey’s goal.
Piche made eight saves the rest of the way.
After recording a 2-2 mark on their four-game road trip, the Lakers begin their final homestand of the regular season tonight against the Sioux Lookout Flyers, who they have beaten in their last two match-ups.
The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
