Joey Payeur
The Fort Frances Lakers continue to fly high—and just brought some new passengers along for the ride.
Nick Minerva scored twice as the Lakers extended their winning streak to eight games with a 5-3 victory over the host Thunder Bay North Stars on Friday night.
“I think Nick’s confidence has grown as he has played with the team,” noted Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan, whose league-leading Lakers (25-7-0-1) now lead second-place Thunder Bay (20-13-4) by seven points with four games in hand.
“He [Minerva] is reading opportunities to jump into holes and he got a break . . . coming out of the penalty box to score our fourth goal,” he added.
Minerva scored the Lakers’ first goal on a power play in the first period.
Bowen Alcock, Bryson Jasper, and Lucas DeBenedet also scored.
Avery Siau, Kris Kellaway, and Daniel McKitrick replied for the North Stars.
Lakers’ goalie Nathan Park made 36 saves in earning the victory.
In what would be his last game as a Laker, defenceman Aaron Wesley-Chisel assisted on DeBenedet’s game against what turned out to be his new team as of Saturday.
Wesley-Chisel, a 20-year-old native of Thunder Bay who was the only holdover on defence from last season’s SIJHL championship team, was dealt to his hometown North Stars for a player development fee.
That was one of seven transactions executed in a busy final 48 hours for Strachan before the CJHL’s trade deadline on Saturday, with all rosters now frozen for the duration of the season.
Two other Lakers were shipped off, although neither one had seen action with the team for quite some time.
Goalie Devin Tappenden was sent to the Minnesota Iron Rangers for a player development fee while forward Hunter Leishman’s CJHL playing rights were dealt to the Gloucester Rangers (Central Canada Hockey League) also for a player development fee.
Leishman had left the Lakers to join the Drummondville Voltigeurs (QMJHL) at the start of this season, where he went pointless in 10 games.
The 18-year-old then played his first two games for Gloucester on Friday against the Nepean Raiders and yesterday versus the Hawkesbury Hawks, recording no points.
In two seasons with his hometown Lakers, Leishman had 12 goals and 21 assists.
The Lakers also welcomed three new players into the fold, all for future considerations, including one of its prodigal hockey sons.
Fort-born forward Nolan Ross, 19, was picked up from the Portage Terriers (MJHL), the top-ranked team in the CJHL and host squad for this year’s RBC Cup national Junior ‘A’ championship.
Ross, who will leave behind twin brother and Terriers’ defenceman Davis Ross, had four goals and three assists in 20 games this season.
Also coming to the Lakers are a pair of blueliners in Cody Antonini and Roshen Jaswal.
Antonini, 19, started the season with the Michigan Warriors (North American Hockey League).
The Grand Rapids, Mich. product then moved to the Pembroke Lumber Kings (CCHL), where he was pointless in six games.
Jaswal, a 19-year-old from Burnaby, B.C., had two goals and eight assists with the Rochester Jr. Americans (United States Premier Hockey League).
All three may be in the lineup for the Lakers’ next game tomorrow night against the visiting English River Miners.
To make room for the entire trio, Fort Frances released hometown product Josh Gouin from the roster.
The 18-year-old defenceman had one goal and one assist in nine games this season, but had been a healthy scratch since last suiting up on Dec. 13 against the Stars.
