Staff
Third-period magic only will get a team so far if it doesn’t play up to par during the first two periods.
Five unanswered goals in the final frame powered the Fort Frances Lakers to a 6-1 win over the Thief River Falls Norskies here Friday night in the opener of a home-and-home series.
But the three-time defending SIJHL champs couldn’t overcome a 7-2 deficit Saturday despite tallying four times in the final 20 minutes—falling 8-6 to the expansion Norskies down in Thief River Falls.
A night after the Lakers (9-11-1-3) had moved into a fourth-place tie with the Norskies (11-11-1-3), the squad gave up the most goals and the most shots (54) so far this season.
Dylan Kooner’s second-straight goal at 15:07 of the third had the Lakers on the cusp of an unbelievable comeback Saturday after Brandon Zajicek and Austin Petrie had scored earlier in the frame.
But Parker Simonson notched an empty-netter with 39 seconds left to ice the Norskies’ victory.
Connor Keith and Jack Bernie had the other Lakers’ goals.
Brandon Bodnar started in goal Saturday after posting 32 saves in Friday’s victory.
But he was pulled at 8:34 of the second in favour of Dakota Delbridge after Alec Daman made it 5-2 for Thief River Falls.
Delbridge came in and gave up goals to Logan Jackson and Connor Bowey (power play), leading Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan to put Bodnar back in to start the third.
He stopped all 14 shots he saw in the third, then came to the bench for an extra attacker with 1:08 left in a last-gasp attempt for the tie by the Lakers.
Mitchell Soderberg led the Norskies with a pair of goals while Tommy Stang and Jared Pederson had the other singles.
Ryan Buttazzoni made 34 saves to earn the win.
In Friday’s game, Bernie and Soderberg (power play) trade goals as the game was deadlocked 1-1 after 40 minutes.
Tyler Malpass hummed a shot from 15 feet out after a nice drop pass from Matt Tustin 1:15 into the third during a man-advantage to put the Lakers ahead to stay.
Bernie netted his second before Ian Jarvis netted his first goal since opening night (a stretch of 22 games) to make it 4-1.
Zajicek and Jared Virtanen, both with power-play markers, rounded out the scoring against Norskies’ netminder Sam Novak.
The Lakers are off until Friday, when they host the last-place Minnesota Iron Rangers (4-19-1) at 7:30 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
The squad also will hold its annual “Teddy Bear Toss” that night in support of the local Salvation Army.
Fans are asked to bring along a stuffed toy to throw on the ice after the first Lakers’ goal.
