Joey Payeur
Nathan Park and Wyatt Cota could get used to this whole championship thing.
So much so that they’re ready for more.
Park made 27 saves on the way to being named the Gongshow Gear SIJHL playoff MVP, and Cota’s hat trick made up the team’s entire offensive output, as the Fort Frances Lakers won their second-straight SIJHL title with a 3-1 win over the host Dryden GM Ice Dogs in Game 6 of the best-of-seven final Saturday night.
The Lakers won the series 4-2 to give themselves momentum heading in as host team of the Dudley Hewitt Cup from April 28-May 2 that will crown the Central Canadian Junior ‘A’ champion.
It also gave both Park and Cota their first league championships in organized hockey.
“It taking a while to settle in,” said Park, a mid-December addition from the Selkirk Steelers (MJHL) who went 8-2 in the post-season with a league-leading 2.65 GAA and .919 save percentage.
“This is something I’ve never experienced before—winning a league championship,” noted the first-team all-star and winner of the league’s top goalie award this season.
“It’s a little surprising [being named MVP],” Park admitted.
“But after having a tough Game 2 [a 5-4 loss here], I was able to bounce back and make sure the team had a chance to win the games we needed to win.”
Cota, meanwhile, led the Lakers in points during the regular season (68) and the playoffs (17), so it was no surprise he led the way in the title-clinching game.
The 20-year-old from Harrowsmith, Ont. beat Dryden goalie Tate Sproxton to open the scoring at 4:20 of the first.
Then about five minutes later, converted defenceman Robbie Bonthron delivered a perfect pass to a hard-charging Cota, who turned it into a breakaway.
He deftly tucked the puck behind Sproxton after freezing the goalie with a five-star deke to his backhand side.
“I’ve scored on that move before and before the game, I had a feeling I was going to get one like that,” said Cota.
He also lauded Bonthron’s job as a fill-in forward for most of the series with injured regulars Lucas DeBenedet and Donovan Cousineau out of the lineup.
“It’s always good when a guy steps up like that,” Cota noted. “Robbie played outstanding.”
Park was at his best in a second period—refusing to crack despite the Lakers getting outshot 16-8.
“Park made some unbelievable saves,” said Cota.
The Ice Dogs, who hit two posts and two crossbars in the game, kept pressing in the third.
They finally broke through when Blake Peavey scored off a scramble at the left side of the net with seven minutes to play.
Dryden had its chances down the stretch, with Park making a crucial sprawling save with 4:27 left.
He then got help from a teammate in the final two minutes.
Defenceman Roshen Jaswal had made two errors that led to premium Dryden scoring chances in the first period of Game 5 (a 6-3 win by the Lakers here Friday night), earning him a seat on the bench for the rest of the night.
But it was Jaswal who got his stick down just in time to deflect Cole Golka’s backdoor shot at what appeared to be an open net.
“The big thing with Roshen was for him to keep his cool throughout the playoffs,” said Park.
“He took some not great penalties early in the playoffs, but turned it around and you’ve got to have guys stepping up like that,” he noted.
Cody Antonini’s high-sticking penalty with 50 seconds to go allowed the Ice Dogs to have a 6-on-4 advantage with Sproxton on the bench for the extra attacker.
But the Lakers buckled down defensively and Cota worked the puck over the blueline before drilling a 140-foot shot that found the empty net for a short-handed goal with 3.2 seconds left.
“It’s been in our mind all year and this has been our goal,” said Cota.
“Ever since the first game, we didn’t just want to go in [to the Dudley Hewitt] as hosts,” he stressed.
“I think we’ve got something special going on here.”
The Lakers took the last three games of the series after falling behind 2-1 following a 3-2 overtime loss in Game 3 in Dryden.
The team was unanimous in citing Game 4 as the turning point of the series, with the Lakers scoring twice in the third period to pull out a 3-2 decision and tie the series.
“I’ve watched these guys throughout the season working so hard and in this final,” lauded Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan, who became the first bench boss to lead a Fort Frances-based team to back-to-back SIJHL titles.
“They never gave up and rose to the occasion.
“And for us to do it two years in a row is a tribute to the great players this year and last, and to those who played in the last five years for this organization,” he added.
Meanwhile, Lakers’ captain Miles Nolan already has put in his request for a jam-packed and ear-splitting Lakers’ fan base to make their presence known during the Dudley Hewitt Cup.
“I’m hoping having home-ice advantage for the whole tournament is going to help,” he remarked.
“I’m really hoping we can get the fans to come out and support us and fire things up in there.”
The tournament begins Tuesday at 2 p.m. with Dryden taking on the Sault Ste. Marie Thunderbirds, who won the NOJHL title in five games over the Cochrane Crunch.
Opening ceremonies then will take place at 7 p.m., followed by the Lakers facing the OJHL champion at 7:30 p.m.
That team will be determined tonight in Game 7 of the OJHL final.
The defending Dudley Hewitt champion Toronto Patriots (formerly the Toronto Lakeshore Patriots) ousted the Lakers from last year’s Dudley Hewitt tourney with a 6-0 win in the semi-final in Wellington.
But the Patriots will have to hold off an inspired Kingston Voyageurs team—ironically, Cota’s team last year—that has rallied from a 3-1 deficit to tie the series.
