Mitch Calvert
The Fort Frances Lakers split a series with the expansion K&A Wolverines on Friday and Saturday in Thunder Bay.
The line of Muise, Henry Gutierrez, and Tyler Stevensen accounted for all three Lakers’ goals in Friday’s 3-2 win, with the trio combining for seven points.
David Dawd and Drew Childs replied for the Wolverines.
“We out-chanced them all game and the score could’ve been bigger,” Lakers’ head coach Wayne Strachan noted.
“The Muise line played well getting all of our points that night, but our leader this game was Byron Katapaytuk.
“He played well defensively, [and] made some great offensive reads and moves to give himself and his teammates many opportunities to score,” Strachan lauded.
“He pulled a move on two defencemen while [penalty killing] that would rival any that Mario Lemieux pulled off in his career. It was a treat to watch the big man go to work,” Strachan added.
“Our team rallied around it and we pulled off a hard-fought victory,” he remarked.
Zak McMichael, making his first start in goal for the Lakers since being acquired from the Lindsay Muskies of the OJHL, stopped 28 shots for the victory.
“McMichael was solid in his first action as a Laker,” Strachan said. “He is good positionally and has great rebound control.”
Then on Saturday, the Lakers rallied from two goals down in the third period before falling 4-3 to drop to 1-2 on the young SIJHL season.
The Wolverines jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on goals from Nathan Spina and Dawd, but Jake Ransom netted a power-play marker for the Lakers before the end of the first period to cut the deficit in half.
Kurtis Atkinson gave the Wolverines a two-goal cushion 8:12 into the final period, but the Lakers stormed back with goals from Stevenson and Katapaytuk in a two-minute span to tie the game.
The comeback went for naught, however, as Childs iced the win to salvage the two-game split.
“Saturday night we beat ourselves,” Strachan lamented. “Yes, it was going to be a hard task to sweep them playing three [games] in three nights, but in the first period we didn’t give ourselves a chance to win.
“We were sluggish, didn’t compete, our defence wasn’t playing defence, [and] we didn’t play physical,” he stressed. “As a result, we were dominated on the scoresheet.
“We adjusted during the end of the period and in the last two periods we gave ourselves a chance to win,” Strachan added. “Coming back from down 3-1 in the third frame showed a lot of character.
“The leadership of a few vets came to the top and we had a chance to win the game.
“A bad defensive breakdown cost us the fourth goal and we couldn’t put one in the net with the goalie pulled after several chances,” Strachan recalled.
“We still need to shore up a few things in our systems and that is my responsibility to get this done this week in practice,” he noted.
Lakers’ goalie Jameson Shortreed took the loss despite being named the game’s third star.
“Jameson is a budding star in the works. He reminds me a lot of [Ryan] Faragher,” said Strachan. “Young and possibly ready to be a number-one goalie.
“We will work with him on rebound control and standing up until the player shoots, but he has done well,” Strachan added. “I wish we didn’t have so many goalies in camp so we could’ve got him into more action and experience at the junior level [in the pre-season], but he will grow as the year goes.
“He has a good work ethic and wants to play the game at a high level.”
A pleasant surprise for the Lakers so far has been the play of affiliated players Chris Cousineau and Jamie Kaun, who have helped fill some holes on defence.
“The play of Jamie Kaun and Chris Cousineau [has] helped our defensive corps out immensely,” Strachan remarked. “Kaun is a player that should stay with the team and play the season.
“He needs to work on a few things but once he learns our systems and adjusts to the play, he could be a solid defenceman in our league.
“Cousineau is a player who isn’t flashy but works his tail off, is good one-on-one, and skates well,” Strachan added. “His size and strength are a little against him, but he has battled hard for us in the two regular-season games he has played.”
Rick Batenburg, brought in late last week after being released by the Winkler Flyers, failed to impress in his audition and was sent packing Monday.
Troy Craig also was given his walking papers earlier this week.
“Both players never defined a role while here with the team and we had to make a decision on the direction we were going to go,” Strachan explained.
“We will have two to three players joining the team this week, and we’ll probably run with what we have for a while now and mold the team together.”
The squad opened its first SIJHL campaign as the Lakers with a 5-2 loss to the defending champion Fort William North Stars here last Thursday night.
After the Stars opened the scoring on a power-play goal by Cody Lund (credited to former Fort Frances Jr. Sabre Dan Usiski on the scoresheet), the Lakers showed plenty of resolve in battling back to tie on a power-play marker of their own from defenceman Ben Hilborn before the end of the period.
“The first period was a good game of hockey, back-and-forth,” Strachan noted. “Both teams came out intense and played hard.
“We had a lot of good chances to get a jump on them and didn’t capitalize.
“[A tie] after the first was a good confidence-builder for us,” he added.
The Lakers actually held a 13-9 shot advantage after 20 minutes, but the Stars roared back with three unanswered goals by Forbes, Sam Dubinsky, and Randall Hanlan over the next period-and-a-half to silence the home crowd.
Lakers’ forward Cam Gross tipped in a Jordan Sinclair shot from the sideboards on a late power play in the third to make things close, but Forbes then iced the win with an empty-netter in the final minute.
Despite connecting twice with the man advantage last Thursday, the Lakers failed to generate anything resembling a scoring opportunity during an extended five-on-three early in the third that all but ended any hopes of a comeback.
“We just have to realize on our power play to keep it simple, execute our passes breaking out, and get pucks on the net,” Strachan said.
“Good example [being] our two power-play goals,” he added. “[You] shoot the puck to the net and things happen.”
