Staff
The Fort Frances Lakers hope to make it an even longer long weekend for their out-of-town guests.
Fort Frances will play twice at the Ice for Kids Arena, beginning with tonight’s 7:30 p.m. meeting with the undermanned Thunder Bay North Stars.
The two-time defending SIJHL champion Lakers (32-6-0-1) are on a roll with a seven-game winning streak following a season-high three-game losing skid for the league leaders.
Third-place Thunder Bay (22-20-0-3) has lost back-to-back games and suffered a season-worst 10-1 loss to the fourth-ranked Minnesota Iron Rangers (15-21-2-2) on Wednesday, giving up eight goals in the first period alone.
A big part of the collapse, though, was the fact the Stars played without four regulars in the lineup, at least three of which will also miss tonight’s contest after being punished by the SIJHL for their part in a variety of incidents during Thunder Bay’s 7-2 loss to the second-place Dryden GM Ice Dogs (25-11-3-2) this past Saturday in Thunder Bay.
Stars defencemen Jared Fanti, Bryce Martin and Joe Newhouse all received one-game suspensions for getting game misconducts in the final 10 minutes of the game and an extra one-game suspension for supplementary discipline.
Meanwhile, Thunder Bay’s Charlie Corness was issued a two-game supplementary discipline suspension and missed the Minnesota game, although the date of his second game to sit out is still to be announced.
The two teams were also fined an undisclosed amount for an off-ice incident between the dressing rooms at the end of the second period as well as for unsportsmanlike conduct by the players in the penalty box and for other penalized players failing to leave the ice in a timely manner when ordered to the dressing room by the on-ice officials.
Sources indicate the post-second period incident in the hallway became so heated, a member of the Thunder Bay squad allegedly tried to punch either Dryden general manager and head coach Kurt Walsten or assistant coach Jesse Linner.
The following day’s rematch between the teams scheduled for Dryden was postponed by the league, although no official reason was given.
On Monday, the Lakers will welcome the Ice Dogs to town for a special Family Day matchup starting at 2:30 p.m. at the Ice for Kids Arena.
The Ice Dogs are 10 points back of the Fort entering this weekend, with the Lakers holding two games in hand.
Forward Braeden Allkins will miss the game for Dryden with a one-game suspension due to also getting a game misconduct in the final 10 minutes in the game against Thunder Bay last Saturday.
An additional unrelated suspension for two games was given to Walsten for inadvertently dressing ineligible players in games on Feb. 3 against the English River Miners and last Saturday against the Stars.
He will serve the suspension in upcoming games against the Miners and North Stars, with those dates still to be determined.’
