Joey Payeur
A team on a hot streak facing a team with four starters missing was a train wreck waiting to happen.
The Fort Frances Lakers extended their winning run to 10 games with a resounding 9-0 shutout over the Thunder Bay North Stars here Friday night.
What was supposed to be a showdown between the SIJHL’s top two teams turned into a laugher for the first-place Lakers (27-7-0-1), who now lead the second-place North Stars (21-15-4) by nine points with four games in hand.
Fort Frances also is tied with the Spruce Grove Saints (AJHL) and Trenton Golden Hawks (OJHL) for the longest active winning streak in the Canadian Junior Hockey League.
“It was definitely a 60-minute effort,” lauded Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan, who got multi-point nights from nine different players.
“We came out a little slow at the start,” he admitted. “But once we got rolling, I think we got better throughout the game.”
Wyatt Cota had a goal and two assists, giving him six points in two games last week, good enough to make him the Amyotte’s Awards & Promotions Corp. player of the week.
The Lakers had one of their best special teams’ showings of the season, going 3-for-5 on the power play while killing off all six man-advantage opportunities for the North Stars.
Thunder Bay only has two wins in nine tries against the Lakers this season, and has lost the last five meetings.
“A game like this is always hard to analyze but it’s certainly one we want to forget about as quickly as possible,” said North Stars’ head coach Jeremy Adduono.
“But we’ve got four of our top guys out of the lineup, we’ve got Junior ‘B’ call-ups, and we’ve got forwards playing defence,” he noted.
“We probably haven’t had a healthy defence corps since October.”
Nolan Ross had a pair of goals and an assist to give the Fort native four points in his first two games since joining the Lakers from the Portage Terriers (MJHL) at the Jan. 10 trade deadline.
Dylan Kooner had first goal in 13 games and added two helpers while Dylan Robertson chipped in four assists.
Miles Nolan and Bryson Jasper scored 1:59 apart late in the first before Ross (power play) and Nick Minerva tallied in the second.
Minerva’s goal sent North Stars’ goalie Eric Mann to the bench for Nathaniel Dupuis but the Lakers were merciless—piling on five more goals in the third.
Cota, Kooner, Ross, Lucas DeBenedet, and Sam Schultz all beat a frustrated Dupuis.
The netminder, who earlier in the frame was penalized for a slash on Bowen Alcock that was followed up with a punch, skated to the bench in disgust after Schultz’s goal with 2:24 left.
He motioned to Adduono with his goal stick to put Mann back in before flinging the stick into the bench.
Nathan Park, meanwhile, stopped all 26 shots he faced for his second shutout.
He now is 4-0 with the Lakers while sporting a 1.13 GAA and .961 save percentage.
Mann stopped 22-of-26 shots to take the loss while Dupuis allowed five goals on just 18 shots.
Defenceman Roshen Jaswal made his Lakers’ debut while forward Donovan Cousineau sat out (coach’s decision).
The Lakers next head to Hoyt Lakes on Wednesday to face the Minnesota Iron Rangers (19-12-4).
Their next home game is this Saturday (Jan. 24) at 7:30 p.m. in a rematch against the Iron Rangers.
In related news, the Dudley Hewitt Cup organizing committee will hold its next meeting tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the Super 8 Motel.
