Joey Payeur
Wyatt Cota was a natural choice to pave the way to one final Fort Frances Lakers’ regular-season victory.
Cota scored a natural hat trick in the third period to help the Lakers to a 4-0 win over the English River Miners here Friday night.
It was the last game for first-place Fort Frances (43-11-0-2) before beginning a playoff run in about two weeks it hopes will end with a second-straight Bill Salonen Cup.
“Obviously we wanted to end the regular season on a good note,” said Cota, a 20-year-old from Kingston who led the Lakers in goals (28), assists (40), and points (68) during the regular season.
Lakers’ head coach Wayne Strachan said he didn’t think anybody could complain about a season which saw Fort Frances put together a 13-game winning streak and then go 10-4 down the stretch to clinch first place with three weeks left.
“Since November, when we cut down our lineup and went with the guys we believed would be here in the end, the team came together a lot,” noted Strachan, whose team went 13-1 against last-place English River (10-41-5) in their season series.
The Miners hung tough through two periods here Friday, trailing only 1-0 on a goal at 4:24 of the second by Matt Vela.
But Cota went to work in the third—first cashing in on a breakaway 57 seconds into the frame set up by a Dylan Kooner steal at the Miners’ blueline.
He connected on a power-play at 15:35 on a shot that deflected off a defender’s stick and past English River goalie Greg Harney.
Cota then waited just 27 seconds before finishing off his hat trick—cutting to the middle on a rush before wristing a bullet from above the face-off circles that beat Harney stick side.
Nathan Park had 25 saves to finish the season as the SIJHL leader in GAA (1.92), save percentage (.932), and shutouts (three).
“I felt the best I have in a while out there,” said Park.
“The last couple I have not played the greatest so tonight was good for my confidence,” he added.
Friday’s game also marked the junior debut of forward Tyler VanUden, who rolled into town that morning after returning from the Muskie boys’ hockey team’s quarter-final run at the OFSAA ‘A/AA’ championships in Pembroke/Petawawa.
With forwards Mason Meyer, Colton Spicer, Donovan Cousineau, and Nolan Ross all on the injured list, VanUden provided a boost to the Lakers’ depleted troops up front.
“I got the text at noon . . . J.D. [Muskie head coach Jamie Davis] said, ‘Why not?’” grinned VanUden.
“It was quick out there,” he added. “Close to the same pace as what we were doing in southern Ontario.”
The Lakers now await the winner of the best-of-five series between the Miners and the fourth-place North Stars (27-25-4), which begins tomorrow in Thunder Bay.
The second-place Minnesota Iron Rangers and third-place Dryden GM Ice Dogs will clash in the other semi-final.
The date for the start of the semi-finals was not known as of press time.
Strachan expects defenceman Gordon Campbell to be ready for Game 1 of the semi-final, and added Ross and Meyer also are good bets to be back in action at that point.
Spicer and Cousineau remain out indefinitely.
