Jamie Mountain
The Fort Frances Lakers knew it wasn’t going to be their night early on in the first period.
That was made quite evident to them by the front-running Thief River Falls Norskies, who stormed out to an early four-goal lead en route to a 7-1 romp Tuesday night at the Ice For Kids Arena.
It was the Lakers’ second-straight loss following a season-high four-game winning streak.
Thief River Falls was all business in a dominant opening 14 minutes that saw the Lakers mostly running around in their own zone.
Parker Simonson opened the scoring on the power play at 2:46 before Mitchell Soderberg notched a short-handed tally at 5:29.
Aslan Akervik (11:33) and Logan Jackson (13:36) then added even-strength goals to give the Norskies to a commanding 4-0 lead after 20 minutes.
That offensive outburst ended the night for Lakers’ starting goalie Ismael Ralsten, who was replaced by Brett Akins.
But the change didn’t deter the Norskies as defenceman Jake Eischen netted his first goal of the season 4:48 into the second frame to make it 5-0.
The Lakers’ lone bright spot of the night came when Ian Jarvis spoiled Jackson Nelson’s shutout bid just past the three-minute mark of the third with his 12th of the season.
That was as close as they would get as Simonson and Alec Daman notched goals less than 34 seconds apart later in the period to cap the scoring.
Nelson finished with 28 saves to earn the win.
Ralsten was tagged with the loss after surrendering four goals on just eight shots.
Akins handled 22-of-25 attempts in relief.
Shots on goal favoured Thief River Falls by a 33-29 margin.
Thief River Falls was 1-for-4 with the man advantage while the Lakers went 0-for-4.
The fifth-place Lakers (10-22-1-3) are next in action tomorrow when they host the third-place Thunder Bay North Stars (21-11-3-0) at 7:30 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
Then they’ll cap the week with a game Saturday night in Thief River Falls.
Fort Frances then will host the SIJHL’s annual “Showcase” next Tuesday and Wednesday (Jan. 30-31).
The Norskies (30-4-0-1) continue to lead the league with 61 points.
The Dryden GM Ice Dogs (26-3-6-1) are right behind with 59 points, followed by the North Stars at 45.
The English River Miners (15-15-0-4) occupy fourth place with 34 points.
The Minnesota Iron Rangers (3-28-1-2) remain in the basement with just nine points.
