Staff
It was a weekend of thrilling hockey that ultimately saw both sides pull out a win.
The Red Lake Miners got goals from seven different players to pull out a 7-5 win over the Fort Frances Lakers in SIJHL pre-season action Saturday night at the Cochenour Arena.
Each team scored twice in the first period, with Christian Ward at even strength and Bryce Young via the man advantage connecting for Red Lake while Jaedin Ness notched both Fort Frances markers.
In a back-and-forth second period, Anthony Antonelli gave the Lakers the lead at 1:50 but then Jun Yi Jhong struck on the power play to tie things up once again.
After Kirk Coppock converted on a man advantage for the Lakers later in the frame, the Miners notched a pair of late goals by Aiden Gleisner and Dante Tisi to give them a 5-4 lead after 40 minutes.
Continuing to trade chances, Red Lake got third-period tallies from Owen Lee and Ty Lawrence, sandwiched around one by the Kaleb Bruyere of the Lakers, to cap the scoring.
Jordan Tkachuk dished out three assists to help the Miners’ offence while Nick Lucas had a couple of helpers for the Lakers.
The Lakers outshot the Miners 36-28.
The previous night, it was the Lakers who had some tricks up their sleeve in a 3-2 overtime victory at the Ice For Kids Arena.
Antonelli’s goal 2:57 into overtime was the difference as the Lakers rallied late to edge the visiting Miners.
Red Lake netted the lone tally of the first period when Kyle Uzelman connected 8:17 into the frame.
After a scoreless second period, Kevin Duguid doubled the visitors’ lead to 2-0 just 85 seconds into third.
The Lakers finally got on the board eight-and-a-half minutes into the frame on a tally by Lucas, then evened it with 5:12 left in regulation time on Ethan Knutsen’s goal.
Fort Frances had a chance to win it in the dying seconds of third but Miners’ goalie Vince Benedetto thwarted a breakaway attempt.
Antonelli then went in on a 2-on-1 with Cole Allan, who dished a slick pass over to him, and made no mistake in beating Benedetto to give the Lakers the win.
The Lakers outshot the Miners 50-37, with Matt Booth picking up the win while Benedetto was tagged with the loss.
Fort Frances will open the regular season this Friday (Sept. 21) on the road versus the defending champion Dryden GM Ice Dogs.
Then they’ll visit the Minnesota Iron Rangers the following night.
The Lakers’ home-opener is slated for Friday, Sept. 28 at 7:30 p.m. against those same Iron Rangers.