Staff
If Wayne Strachan was going to draw up the perfect start to the SIJHL regular season, this isn’t what he would have had in mind.
The head coach and general manager of the Fort Frances Lakers saw his team lose twice in a home-and-home series against the Thief River Falls Norskies over the weekend to kick off the 2017-18 campaign.
Fort Frances (0-1-0-1) coughed up a 4-1 second-period lead en route to a 5-4 loss in a shootout to the Norskies on Friday night at the Ice For Kids Arena.
The news got worse the next night in Thief River Falls as the Norskies (2-0) netted two goals each period to cruise to a 6-1 victory.
It looked like there would be no carry-over from a winless pre-season for the Lakers for much of the first 40 minutes of Friday’s game.
Newly-appointed captain Julian Uhryniuk reeled in a touch pass from newly-reacquired linemate Hunter Buzzi and tipped the puck past Norskies’ goalie Brock Lefebvre just 1:04 into the first period.
Cody Aarvig tied it up at 2:36, jumping on a loose puck after a Johnny Bennis shot that Lakers’ goalie Rob Ivy couldn’t squeeze.
Less than two minutes later, Mark Richter made a foray from his defence spot on a right-wing rush and centered the puck to Jordan Sgro, who scored his first goal as a Laker with a quick shot from the slot.
The home side then jumped ahead 3-1 on the power play at 9:52 when Richter fed Damien Caringi in the slot, who zipped the puck past Lefebvre.
Caringi made a dynamite rush in the second period, getting a step on his defender and then breaking in before putting a backhander upstairs at 11:44.
But with the Lakers looking like they would take a three-goal lead to the dressing room, Parker Simonson fired a bullet past Ivy with 41 seconds left in the frame to cut the gap to 4-2.
The Norskies then rallied to tie it in the third.
Simonson netted his second goal of the game at 10:38 before Bennis beat Ivy with just nine seconds left in regulation time and Ian Tookenay in the box for tripping.
After overtime solved nothing, the Lakers were one shot away from grabbing the extra point when Caringi followed Austin Petrie’s initial miss with a tally.
Simonson and Aarvig, meanwhile, both came up empty on the Norskies’ first two attempts but Bennis delivered in the clutch to tie the shootout.
After Noah Loveday was turned aside by Lefebvre to extend the shootout, Connor Schuster made good on his chance for the Norskies.
Lefebvre then denied Uhryniuk to give the visitors the win.
In Saturday’s game in Thief River Falls, the Lakers hung around through the first period, trailing only 2-1 as Mitchell Soderberg (power play) and Jack Dunnell sandwiched goals around Cameron Birkeland’s man-advantage marker.
But the Norskies took over in the second as Simonson stretched the lead to 4-1.
Christian Larson and Aarvig added insurance goals in the third, with Lefebvre earning the victory.
Michael Binczyk started for the Lakers but was yanked after Simonson’s goal having stopped 10-of-13 shots.
Ivy made 20 saves on 23 shots in a relief role.
The Lakers were in Dryden last night to battle the defending SIJHL champion Dryden GM Ice Dogs (score unavailable at press time).
Then they’ll head to Red Lake on Friday to face the English River Miners before hosting Dryden on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
