Joey Payeur
Wayne Strachan hardly was inspired by what he saw on the first day of the Fort Frances Lakers’ main training camp last week.
So he decided to do a little inspiring of his own.
“After the first day was done and over, I will admit I was scratching my head as I didn’t feel the game on Thursday night was very intense or showed what we are looking to build this year,” said the general manager and head coach of the defending SIJHL champs.
“We talked with both teams after and Friday brought much better hockey,” Strachan noted.
“In the end, I was pleased with the end result and what we have to work with headed into practice and pre-season,” he added.
That pre-season schedule gets underway this Friday at 7:30 p.m. when the Minnesota Iron Rangers—the Lakers’ opponent in the SIJHL final this past spring—visit the Ice For Kids Arena.
That will be followed by a 6:30 p.m. matchup here Saturday against the English River Miners, whom the Lakers ousted in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, the Lakers remain on the national radar after making it to the Dudley Hewitt Cup semi-final this past last season.
The squad sits 10th in the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s pre-season top 20 rankings, which were released Friday.
The Lakers were the only SIJHL team to crack the rankings, which are based on last year’s performance combined with NHL Central Scouting’s evaluation of each team’s recruitment class.
Fort Frances reached No. 2 in the rankings midway through last season—marking their highest spot ever on that list.
The Fort McMurray Oil Barons (Alberta Junior Hockey League) enter as the pre-season No. 1 squad, followed by the Penticton Vees (BCHL League), the Georgetown Raiders (OJHL), the RBC Cup host for this year, the Portage Terriers (MJHL), and the Soo Thunderbirds (OJHL).
Strachan kept a close eye on the conditioning level of the 36 players (21 forward, nine defencemen, and six goalies) on hand at the camp to see who had taken their off-season fitness regimens seriously.
“After off-ice testing, the overall conditioning was not as good as in the past couple of years,” admitted Strachan, who had 11 players decline invitations to camp for various reasons.
“On the last two days, however, I thought the pace of the games were good and fast throughout the 50 minutes they were on the ice,” he added.
“However, there is always the need for improvement and we will go hard in this
department of the game the next month,” Strachan stressed.
“Conditioning has been one of our staples the last few years and we will not take it lightly this season knowing what the end result is come the last week of April,” added Strachan, referring to Fort Frances hosting the Dudley Hewitt Cup next spring.
Strachan got an eyeful of a forward group that will feature both veterans and newcomers looking to fill the gap left behind by the departure of Lucas DeBenedet, the SIJHL’s top scorer, and his “DLM” linemate, Lyndon Lipinski.
“Carter Chorney again showed his skill and speed [while] Matt Vela showed hard work, speed, plays with an edge, and scored some nice goals,” noted Strachan.
“Bowen Alcock came on as camp got further into the three days and scored some goals to help ‘Team Black’ dominate the camp,” he added.
“We liked the work effort of Blue Hayler and Alex Rezansoff was solid down the middle.”
An unexpected push for a roster spot came from Muskie product Jarred Taylor, who is trying to make the transition from the black-and-gold last season to the black-and-red this year.
“Probably the most pleasant surprise was local,” Strachan said about the lightning-quick Taylor.
“He proved all weekend he was competing to stay with the team.
“[Taylor] showed speed, skill, took pucks to the net, scored, and even fought,” noted Strachan.
“He definitely opened the evaluators’ eyes on Friday and Saturday.”
Meanwhile, needing to fully restock the blueline corps other than returnee Aaron Wesley-Chisel, Strachan will have a group he believes to be talented but somewhat green.
“With the exception of Max Kaercher, Ryan Reeves and Robbie Bonthross, our defence is 18 or younger,” said Strachan, who only will have seven defencemen on hand as prospect Kenton Peters left the team after camp to try his luck making the Steinbach Pistons (MJHL).
“Max, Ryan, and Robbie will be relied upon to be leaders and help bring along the younger guys at this level,” he remarked.
“Wesley-Chisel being the only returnee will also, as a young guy, be called upon to help the defence work and get to know one another as quickly as possible,” Strachan added.
“If we can pressure the puck and create turnovers quickly, then get good plays, we will be able to attack offensively like our team likes to.”
Veteran Devin Tappenden firmly is entrenched in the starter’s role between the pipes.
As such, he only got two-and-a-half periods of playing time during training camp to allow the other goalies to stake their claim to the back-up spot.
“We will carry four this week into our first two pre-season games, and they will all get a chance to play and show what they can do in practice,” promised Strachan.
“In my opinion, I thought all the other three played well through camp and we will be looking for consistency,” he added.
“I am not going to give the nod to anyone because I want them all to rise up and show what they can bring this week.”
Veteran forwards Miles Nolan, last year’s playoff MVP, and Donovan Cousineau were not in camp due to work commitments.
On the injury front, defenceman Jordan Olsen had surgery several weeks back and will join the team once he’s completely healthy.
The only camp casualty was forward Avery Siau, who came down with illness and had to leave.
Strachan was hoping Siau would be back at practice yesterday.
