Joey Payeur
All it took was a four-game winning streak to get the Fort Frances Lakers back on the national radar screen.
The Lakers (6-1) took over top spot in the SIJHL with a pair of home wins—edging the Dryden GM Ice Dogs 5-4 in a shootout Friday night before topping the English River Miners 6-5 on Saturday.
With the recent surge, Fort Frances also has vaulted back into the Pointstreak Canadian Junior Hockey League top 20 weekly rankings, landing at No. 11.
The Lakers had been ranked 10th in the pre-season, but fell out of the rankings after losing to Dryden (4-1-0-1) back on Sept. 24.
Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan was enamoured with the offensive output by his squad, but realizes the defensive side needs some repair work after surrendering 4-1 leads in both games.
“I think when you get two victories, there is always a sense of being happy,” noted Strachan.
“As a coach, though, I am not sure you are ever satisfied and shoring up some defensive areas, and trying to get them to believe in never sitting back, will definitely be two areas we address this week in meetings and practices,” he stressed.
“We can chalk both wins up to success,” Strachan added. “However, we have to realize we cannot allow four and five goals nightly if we want to continue that success.
“We need to hold ourselves accountable for our positioning, being physical, and having our coverage,” he said.
“They need to break some bad habits and start processing what we are talking about, and then going out and executing it.”
It seems when something goes wrong or someone misses an assignment, the teams panics and gets running around, noted Strachan.
“We need to process everything and remain calm, play our positions, as well as be much more physical in our defensive zone,” he remarked.
“I wouldn’t fault our goalies. Both made some big saves in both games to help our cause,” he added.
“It boils down to five players having pride, being accountable, and our goalies making the saves we have to.”
Both Laker goalies had their key moments in the two games.
Devin Tappenden, returning between the pipes after being pulled in his previous start and then getting the next game off, made a sparkling save with either his pad or skate while lying on his chest to deny Troy Williams on Dryden’s final shootout attempt.
Williams had tied the game with 1:19 left in regulation—the last of three-straight Dryden goals in the final 15 minutes after Matt Vela had notched the Fort’s third power-play goal of the night at 3:54 of the third.
The Tappenden save made Carter Chorney’s goal—featuring a scintillating toe-drag that left Ice Dogs ’goalie Tate
Sproxton completely at his mercy—stand up as the only goal of the shootout.
Wyatt Cota had two power-play goals in the second period for the Lakers and added a first-period assist on Colton Spicer’s marker.
“The reason we got Wyatt was for his skill and offensive ability,” Strachan said about the 19-year-old Kingston-based forward.
“He has come in and fit in nicely, and this past week has had a great deal of offensive success,” he added.
“He seems to be prepared every game and has gelled well with his linemates to form a pretty good threat when on the ice.”
Joel Zieroth, Derek McPhail, and Hank Bouchard had Dryden’s other goals.
Saturday’s game saw the visiting Miners (0-6) counting on “Champagne” wishes to make their caviar dreams about their first victory a reality.
Eric Champagne scored twice in a span of 2:05 late in the second to help erase English River’s three-goal deficit, then notched his hat-trick goal with 42 seconds left to cut the Lakers’ lead to one.
But Jake Holland picked a good night to have his most productive night of the season—scoring the eventual deciding goal at 9:16 of the third for his second of the night.
“Jake had somewhat of a wake-up call in sitting [last] Wednesday’s game and he has responded well in the two games over the weekend,” Strachan said about the 19-year-old forward from Maple Ridge, B.C.
“When you move your feet, work hard, and do other little intangibles throughout the game, sometimes you are rewarded for the work and Jake had a big night for us on Saturday because of these things,” Strachan added.
“He got himself in the right positions and buried a couple of big goals for us.”
Mason Meyer also scored twice for the Lakers while Bowen Alcock and Bryson Jasper added singles.
Ryan Ferguson made 33 saves to earn his second win in two starts.
Hayden Hickey and Mark Sprong had the other goals for English River while P.D. Melgoza struggled in allowing six goals on only 28 shots.
The Lakers’ only injury right now continues to be defenceman Ryan Reeves, who blocked a shot with his foot more than a week ago and has been hobbled ever since.
“Ryan skated the other day,” noted Strachan.
“He is experiencing some pain still [but] can resume activity with the team if he can manage the pain he will experience until the injury is completely healed.”
The Lakers will play their next two games on the road, including tonight’s match-up against the Thunder Bay North Stars (2-3).
Then they’ll travel to Ear Falls on Friday to face the Miners.
Their next home game is slated for Tuesday, Oct. 14 at 7:30 p.m. versus the Minnesota Iron Rangers.
