Joey Payeur
Tanner Fricke decided this was no time for a losing streak and figured ending someone else’s winning run suited him just fine.
Fricke scored twice in regulation time, then netted the winning goal in the fourth round of the shootout, to lift the Fort Frances Lakers to a 6-5 win over the Minnesota Iron Rangers last night in Hoyt Lakes.
The Lakers had their 15-game winning streak come to an end Tuesday night with a 5-4 shootout loss to the host Thunder Bay North Stars.
But facing a Minnesota team that had won its last six to vault into second place behind the Lakers in the SIJHL standings, Fort Frances (17-1-0-2) reversed their fortunes in the breakaway showdown to earn the extra point.
Colton Spicer scored in the first round of the shootout while Minnesota’s Jason Reynolds replied in the second round.
After Lyndon Lipinski and Jonathon Losurdo traded misses in the third round, Fricke made good on his attempt against Alex Reichle to put the Lakers on the cusp of victory.
The SIJHL’s top goalie in terms of GAA (2.23) and save percentage (.922), Jordan Cartney, then turned aside one of the league’s best snipers in Trevor Hoth (14 goals) to preserve the win.
Cartney, who came in for Ryan Ferguson at 14:33 of the second after the Iron Rangers (12-5-0-3) had forged ahead 4-3, made six saves in regulation and the three shootout stops to earn his 10th win of the season after succumbing to the Stars the previous night.
Fricke, Mason Meyer, and Lipinski all had three-point nights for Fort Frances, who also got a goal from Patrick Sofer in a game that saw the lead change hands four times.
Hoth had a goal and two assists to lead the Iron Rangers, with Drew Millis, Thomas Fazio, Matt O’Dea, and Losurdo adding singles.
On Tuesday night, Bryce Lipinski completed a unique family hat trick with the equalizer at 6:05 of the final frame as the Lakers rallied to tie the game for the third time.
The marker meant every Lipinski on the roster had a goal in the contest after twin brother, Lyndon, and younger brother, Kyle, lit the lamp earlier.
The shootout was a shooters’ paradise early on as Spicer and Lucas DeBenedet matched the Stars’ Matthias Gardiman and Daniel Delpaggio goal-for-goal in the first two rounds.
Then the goalies took over the next two rounds, with Cartney denying Brandon Wolframe and Cary Brown while Nathaniel Dupuis shut down Bryce Lipinski and Kevin Kurm.
In the fifth round, Trevor Hynnes put one past Cartney, then celebrated on the North Stars’ bench when Dupuis turned aside Meyer to conclude what has been an amazing stretch for the Lakers.
DeBenedet scored his league-best 16th goal in regulation time while the Stars got a hat trick from Gardiman and a single from Zach Grzelewski.
With the Iron Rangers’ loss last night, Thunder Bay (12-2-0-3) and Minnesota both have 27 points—nine behind the Lakers (36).
But the Stars hold three games in hands on both the front-runners and their closest pursuer.
In a strange scheduling quirk, the Lakers play the first of three-straight games against the last-place Wisconsin Wilderness (1-19) tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena at 7:30 p.m.
The Lakers then head to Spooner next Tuesday (Nov. 26) to play the Wilderness before facing them again back here Nov. 29.
The Wilderness split their first two games of the season, but now are in the throes of a disastrous 18-game losing streak, which continued with a 5-2 road loss to the Dryden Ice Dogs last night.
