Staff
Scoring first, as well as jumping out to big leads, hasn’t been a problem for the Fort Frances Lakers so far this SIJHL season.
The trouble has been converting that into wins.
Squandering early leads once again was the story over the weekend as the Lakers suffered a pair of losses to the English River Miners and Dryden GM Ice Dogs.
Anthony Antonelli’s power-play goal at 12:22 of the first period gave the Lakers a 1-0 lead over the visiting Ice Dogs on Saturday night at the Ice For Kids Arena.
But Dryden tied the score later in the period, added a pair of goals in the second, then tacked on two more in the third for a 5-1 victory that left the Lakers with a 1-3-0-1 record through their first five games of the regular season.
A night earlier, the Lakers led 1-0 and 2-1 on second-period goals by Damien Carigni and Jaedin Ness before falling 4-2 to the Miners in Cochenour.
Rob Ivey was tagged with the loss both nights, facing 26 shots by the Miners and 48 against the Ice Dogs.
The team’s lone win–a 6-5 shootout victory over the Ice Dogs last Tuesday (Sept. 26) in Dryden–came despite the Lakers coughing up a four-goal lead in the third period, with three of those tallies coming in the final four minutes of regulation time.
That came after the Lakers blew a 4-1, second-period lead to the visiting Thief River Falls Norskies en route to a 5-4 shootout loss in their season-opener back on Sept. 22.
It all adds up to a cause for concern for Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan.
[It’s] something we have discussed,” he noted Monday in an e-mailed response to the Times.
“We need to learn the urgency and desperation it takes to play with leads, and we have to have that will to finish our opponents off,” he stressed.
“But our conditioning plays a huge factor in this, as well.
“We knew heading into the season, with the team we had coming out of training camp, that we were inexperienced and would have to work to get our players up to speed,” Strachan added.
“We need more contribution from some of our veteran players and we ultimately are losing hockey games because we are not in the shape we need to be,” he conceded.
“We can play well and play at a high tempo, however, we can’t do it consistently through the hockey games.”
Strachan said picking up coverage around their own net area also needs to improve.
“We have to do a better job of finding and boxing out our coverage around the net,” he remarked.
Still, Strachan is seeing some positives from the team.
“The biggest plus so far is that we have proved we can play with the four teams we have seen through exhibition and the early part of the season,” he noted.
“We are fast and when we play to our identity, [we] can be very good,” he added. “It just has to happen consistently.
“When we get to that level, I think we will see better results.”
The Lakers next host the Minnesota Iron Rangers this Friday at 7:30 p.m., then hit the road for games in Dryden on Saturday and in Thunder Bay versus the North Stars next Wednesday.
“We will continue to work on our conditioning, as well as learning the systems,” Strachan said in how the team is preparing for its next three games.
“We have some fresh players in camp now and if you want to be in the lineup, you better be working hard to show you want to be there,” he warned.
The Lakers have added goalie Brett Akins to their roster, with Strachan saying defenceman Cohen MacPherson should be ready to go this week.
“[Forward] Jaden Gustafson has decided to return to the team, Carter Chorney is now with us, as well, as we acquired him early in the season from the Steinbach Pistons of the MJHL, and Colton Yaremko has joined us, as well,” he added.
Strachan noted forward Jordan Sgro has chosen to leave the team.
The Norskies lead the standings with a 4-0-0-0 record (eight points), followed by the Ice Dogs with seven (3-0-0-1).
The North Stars (2-0-0-0) sit in third place with four points.
The Lakers are next with three points while the Miners (1-2-0-0) are in fifth with two.
The Iron Rangers (0-3-0-1) are last in the six-team league with one point.
(Editor’s note: The story in Monday’s Daily Bulletin incorrectly listed the North Stars’ record as 2-0-0-1).
