Staff
With an outside shot at fourth place still up for grabs, the Fort Frances Lakers (14-30-5) still had something to play for over the weekend.
But so, too, did the K&A Wolverines.
The Wolverines (19-27-5) pulled into a third-place tie with the Sioux Lookout Flyers after a pair of one-goal wins over the host Lakers: 5-4 on Friday night and then 3-2 on Saturday.
The Lakers (14-30-5) had trailed the Wolverines by six points with four games to play going into the weekend, so a pair of wins in regulation time would have pulled the squad to within two points of them with two games in hand, meaning home-ice advantage in the first round still was a possibility.
With the losses, however, he Lakers are entrenched in fifth place and so will begin the playoffs on the road against either Sioux Lookout or K&A.
The Lakers opened the scoring both nights, with Tyler Stevenson capitalizing just 3:03 into Friday’s game.
K&A bounced back just over a minute later, though, when Patrick Pinder beat Jameson Shortreed.
The visitors then forged ahead quickly in the second, getting goals from Drew Childs and Aaron Ross 3:35 apart to go up 3-1.
The Lakers fought back with a speedy strike of their own, however, as Stevenson and Jordan Carne scored in a 54-second span to knot the game.
Matt Valley and Laker Ryan Presthus then exchanged goals towards the end of the period to send it to the third tied at 4-4.
K&A notched the winner 58 seconds into the third as Aaron Ross’ second of the game did the Lakers in.
Shortreed made 28 saves in a losing cause. K&A starter Eric Swanick made 20 over the first two periods, with Spencer Malone turning aside all 10 shots he saw in relief.
Saturday night’s game began with promise for the Lakers as Cody Edwards jumped on a Justin Erhart rebound and beat Malone just two minutes in.
But Dustin Roy’s roughing penalty seemed to spark K&A as Nathan Spina took off on a shorthanded break. Despite being hauled down, he still managed to put the puck past Lakers’ goalie T.J. Pocock at 16:11 of the first.
Then just 51 seconds later, and still shorthanded, Wolverines’ forward Tim Harris broke in and shot a wrister past Pocock to vault K&A into a 2-1 lead.
The Wolverines netted the eventual winner early in the second. A pair of Wolverines blazed past the Lakers’ defence to face Shortreed, who had relieved Pocock to start the second.
Chris Smerek fed Ross, who jammed one past Shortreed to put K&A up 3-1.
Fort Frances pressed to cut the lead, though, and nearly did when Tim Hennessey charged out front of the Wolverines’ net, twirled a spin-a-rama, and let loose a wrister that clanged off both posts and out.
The Lakers did solve Malone once more before the period was through when a Stevenson snapper beat the goalie low on the glove side at 14:28.
There was no scoring in the third, but not for Fort Frances’ lack of trying.
With about six minutes to go, Carne was stifled as he tried to bang one past Malone while a Stevenson shot was stonewalled as the final seconds ticked down.
Shortreed made 16 saves in relief of Pocock, who had made nine in the opening period. Malone turned aside 27 shots.
The Lakers complete their regular-season schedule with three games in four nights beginning tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. when they play their home finale against Dryden.
The team is encouraging fans to wear red as part of a “Lake of Fire” promotion.
Fort Frances then will meet those same Ice Dogs on Wednesday in Dryden before closing out against host Sioux Lookout on Friday night.
