Staff
The Fort Frances Lakers likely are pleased they don’t have to hit the ice in Thunder Bay again anytime soon.
The Lakers (8-22-4) lost both games there last week, dropping a 2-0 decision to the K&A Wolverines (12-22-5) on Thursday night before being pummeling 8-3 by the Fort William North Stars (32-2-0) on Friday.
The trip to Thunder Bay was the Lakers’ second of the week. They were dumped 11-3 by the North Stars on Jan. 2 before bouncing back with a 5-1 decision over K&A the following day.
After a scoreless first period Thursday night, K&A’s Matt Hunter opened the scoring late in the second.
Aaron Ross then sealed it for the hosts midway through the third as he beat Lakers’ goalie Jameson Shortreed.
Shortreed made 43 saves in the loss while Spencer Malone stopped all 34 shots he saw to earn the shutout.
Things got no better for the Lakers on Friday night, although they kept it close in the early going.
Travis Savard notched the only lone goal of the first period to put Fort William up 1-0.
The Lakers knotted the score just over a minute into the second when Jaret Leclair notched his second of the season past Fort William goalie Jayme Brattengeier.
But as Fort William has done against the Lakers for much of the season, they responded quickly to kill any momentum. Ryan Pearson scored just 33 seconds after Leclair to give the hosts a 2-1 lead.
Jordan Davis added to the Lakers’ misery at 4:19, beating Shortreed to make it 3-1, before SIJHL scoring leader Ryan Magill pumped the lead to three at 10:41.
The Lakers cut the deficit late in the second on Byron Katapaytuk’s seventh of the campaign.
But Pearson struck again just over a minute later, netting is second of the night to make it 5-2.
The North Stars then pulled away in the third as Savard and Eli Halcrow struck just 1:16 apart.
Pearson earned the hat trick at 11:31 to make it an 8-2 game.
Henry Gutierrez tallied a power-play marker at 12:17 to round out the scoring.
Shortreed stopped 41 of the 49 shots he faced while T,J. Pocock stopped all seven he faced in relief.
Brattengeier and Guillaume Piche teamed up to turn away 22 of the 25 shots directed at the Fort William net.
The Lakers will see their first home action of 2010 on Thursday night (Jan. 14) when they host the Wolverines at 7:30 p.m.
The game also will mark the debut of the Lakers’ new jerseys.
