Mitch Calvert
Payback never felt so good.
The Fort Frances Jr. Sabres got back at the Dryden Ice Dogs here Saturday night with a 4-0 win, making up for a tough 4-1 loss up in Dryden on Dec. 17.
Kyle Ruhl stopped 20 shots for his second shutout in three starts with the Sabres while Mitch Cain added a goal and two assists after missing last Wednesday’s game due to attending the CJHL’s “Prospects Game.”
“We had some key guys sitting out [Wednesday], and we weren’t ready to play, but we came ready to play tonight,” Ruhl said after the game. “On the penalty kill, I could see every shot from the point and it definitely made my job easier.”
Chris Sinclair and Rod Bouchard (who both missed last Wednesday’s game, too) netted singles while Dan Usiski scored a beauty on a backhand off the bar and in—helping the Sabres (18-9-1) go into the Christmas break on a high note.
The win secured them third place in the SIJHL standings—two points behind the Thunder Bay Bearcats and eight in back of the Fort William North Stars.
The Sabres set a physical tone early, and the hard-checking game led to some fisticuffs later on as emotions boiled over.
“They started me, [Kalib] Thunderchief, and ‘Cainer,’ and I knew what I had to do,” Sabres’ enforcer Logan McDonell said of the opening shift. “I went in and started throwing the body around, and then I went out for my second [shift] and they targeted me.
“It looked like every time I turned around, someone was trying to lay me out, but you just got to pop up and keep going,” he reasoned.
McDonell got the festivities rolling right off the opening puck drop in the second period, squaring off with the Ice Dogs’ Jon Mitchell in a long, spirited fight.
“This year it seems like people are tying up more, so it was nice to see someone throw back,” McDonell said of the scrap. “It was also nice afterwards, he came up to me in the stands and shook my hand, and said ‘good fight.’
“It’s good to see the respect like that because you don’t see it too often.”
The third period saw more of the same as Thunderchief looked to get redemption for a high hit from Chris Blaquiere on Sinclair in the second period.
The two tried to drop the gloves and take their helmets off, but the linesmen put the kibosh on that and sent the two off for roughing.
The SIJHL doesn’t have an insurance policy to allow players to fight without their lids on (probably a good thing considering the circumstances surrounding Whitby Dunlops’ Don Sanderson, who currently is in a coma after hitting his head on the ice during a major junior fight this past week).
Nonetheless, the two got their unfinished business done after leaving the box, with helmets securely fastened, in a fairly brief battle.
“It’d be all right if you saw Blaquiere hitting big guys like that, but when you see him running little guys, it’s kind of a joke,” McDonell stressed.
Ryan Witherspoon then tangled with Kirk Olimb in the final seconds.
“No one’s taking liberties, and it’s nice to see other guys stepping up and throwing them,” McDonell added.
The Sabres don’t resume action until Jan. 9 when they travel to Thunder Bay to face the league-leading North Stars.
