Staff
An old combination helped 2015 start right for the Fort Frances Lakers.
Lucas DeBenedet set up Mason Meyer in the last minute of the second period for what held up as the game-winning goal as the Lakers edged the Dryden GM Ice Dogs 2-1 here Saturday night for their sixth-straight win.
DeBenedet moved around three different defenders coming out of the right corner before spotting his longtime linemate wide open at the left side of the net.
Meyer then one-timed the puck past Ice Dogs’ goalie Tate Sproxton to give the Lakers (23-7-1) their seventh win in nine meetings against Dryden (16-14-2) this season.
“The big thing tonight was keep things simple,” Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan said about his team’s first game in two weeks due to the Christmas break.
“Our practices were a little rusty . . . but our first period was very good [against Dryden],” he noted.
“We had pressure on the puck and I think we did a good job continuing our momentum from there.”
After a scoreless first period, Anthony Filoso put the visitors on the board at 2:26 of the second.
But Donovan Cousineau pulled the Lakers even at 5:43 during a power play.
Nathan Park was steady in goal all game for the Lakers, making 23 saves to give him two wins in two starts since joining the squad last month.
Sproxton, meanwhile, kept the Ice Dogs in it as best he could, turning aside 36 shots.
The Lakers next head to Hoyt Lakes tomorrow to face the Minnesota Iron Rangers (16-10-4).
In related news, Lakers’ forward Carter Chorney was named the Amyotte’s Awards & Promotions Corp. rookie-of-the-month for December.
Chorney’s month didn’t start ideally as he was cut from the Canada West roster during the team’s selection camp in Calgary for the World Junior ‘A’ Challenge in Kindersley, Sask.
But the 17-year-old Rainy River native returned to the Lakers ready to prove himself and did so in netting two goals and six assists in six games in December.
