Lucas Punkari
No matter the outcome of their regular-season finale tonight, the Fort Frances Lakers already know what lies ahead of them in the SIJHL playoffs.
The Lakers, who enter tonight’s game versus the Thunder Bay North Stars at the Fort William Gardens in second place with a 35-17-1-2 record, will square off against the third-place Dryden Ice Dogs in a best-of-seven semi-final showdown that starts next Thursday night (March 21) at the Ice For Kids Arena here.
“The second game will take place here a night later, [then] the full playoff schedule for that series should be out for the public shortly,” noted Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan.
Both teams have grown quite familiar with each other in recent years—having met in the semi-finals every season since 2010, with the Ice Dogs winning in six games in both 2010 and 2011 before the Lakers swept them aside a year ago.
In their 15 meetings during the 2012-13 campaign, the Lakers took the season series 9-6, with victories in their last seven-straight meetings.
Their most recent clash took place in Dryden last Wednesday night, when the Lakers rallied for a 4-3 win in overtime.
“In the first period we weren’t ready to play and Dryden was taking it to us to go in front by two goals,” Strachan recalled.
“[Then] we started to play our game like we had been against them, and Davis Smith [got] into a fight halfway through the second period that I thought turned the momentum around,” he added.
“It gave us a little bit more of a jump and we worked hard after that.”
Lakers’ defenceman Jon Carlson was the hero last Wednesday, netting the game-tying goal in the third period before notching the game-winner in overtime.
Jacob Nolan added a goal and an assist, with Lakers’ captain Merritt Rysavy scoring the other goal.
The Lakers then looked to continue their winning ways here Friday night but their 11-game streak came to a screeching halt as the North Stars skated away with a 2-1 triumph.
“We weren’t ready to play once again,” Strachan lamented.
“I don’t think we have been ready to play in our last four of five games heading into this one, other than our win on the road against the [Minnesota] Wilderness, and it’s obviously a concern,” he warned.
“To me, I felt a lot of guys had personal agendas out on the ice, and as a man, I can maybe name six or seven guys that impressed me [Friday night].
“You can’t have that as you need to have a total team effort, which is something we didn’t have tonight,” Strachan added.
The win was huge for the North Stars, though, as it ended a nine-game skid and helped them earn home-ice advantage in their best-of-three quarter-final series against the Minnesota Iron Rangers, which is slated to start later this week.
“All of the credit goes to our guys,” said North Stars’ head coach Jordan Smith.
“The guys have dealt with adversity since day one, and tonight [Friday] was no different as we found a way to win with three lines and four defencemen.
“They dug in deep and they were able to come away with two points, so I can’t be happier,” he added.
Jerid Adamson and Kristopher Kellaway both scored for the North Stars on Friday night while Rysavy had the lone goal for the Lakers.
The North Stars then duplicated their feat here Saturday night as Jayme Brattengeier made 38 saves to earn his first career SIJHL shutout in a 1-0 triumph.
“I was definitely nervous at the end of the game,” admitted Brattengeier, who has played four seasons in the SIJHL.
“I’ve had the opportunity to get shutouts before, but things just never seemed to go my way,” he noted.
“The boys all worked hard for the win tonight [Saturday] and I have to thank them a lot.”
The lone goal came just 51 seconds into the game when Alex Vaillant’s shot beat Lakers’ goalie Talor Joseph.
“It was the first shift of the game, and I just wanted to try and get a bit of a jump for the boys,” noted Vaillant.
“My linemates [Mathias Gardiman and Kellaway] made a nice play at the blueline, and I was just to able to pick up the loose puck and I had a wide-open net to shoot on,” he recalled.
“We needed these two wins and I felt we played well in both games,” Vaillant added.
The Lakers did have numerous chances late in the game to try and force overtime, including shots by Colton Spicer and Kevin Kurm that rang off the iron, but they were unable to notch that elusive tying marker.
“I thought our second and third periods were a lot better tonight [Saturday], and we can’t say that we didn’t have our chances,” Strachan remarked.
“I think we hit six or seven posts overall, and the hockey gods were on their side tonight.”
But things went a lot better for the Lakers on Monday night in Thunder Bay, where they snapped their two-game skid with a 5-3 win.
“The bottom line with that game is that we came to compete and we played with intensity,” Strachan noted.
“We got some timely goals that were not pretty, but we [got] the puck to the net and we attacked the net.”
Payton Ruter led the way with a pair of first-period goals.
“He was putting the puck at the net, whether it be on line rushes or off of the cycle,” Strachan recalled.
“His first goal came off of a face-off that Alex [Bruess] won, and I think the goalie was surprised with how quick that he got the shot off.
“The second goal was kind of a broken play in the slot, where he pounced on the puck and put it on net to beat the goalie on the glove side,” he added.
Spicer, Miles Nolan, and Tyler Broderson also scored for the Lakers while Tanner Hamilton picked up the win in his first start between the pipes since late January.
“I thought Tanner played well for not being in the net for a while now,” Strachan said.
“He answered the call and showed that he is a good goalie at this level.
“It was good to see him step up to this challenge, and it gives him some much-needed confidence heading into the playoffs,” added Strachan.
