Staff
The Fort Frances Jr. Sabres (13-8-1) blanked the Sioux Lookout Flyers 5-0 here Saturday night to hand the expansion club their 20th loss of the season.
The Sabres got two goals from Brendan Baumgartner, who had missed Thursday night’s game against the Dryden Ice Dogs with a hand injury, while newly-acquired goalie Kyle Ruhl earned the shutout in his first SIJHL start, improving the Sabres’ home record to 8-4.
Graham Dyck, Dan Usiski, and Colton Kennedy added singles while Ruhl was only tested with 10 shots against.
Former goalie David Novak, shipped to Sioux Lookout last week, stopped 44 shots for the visiting Flyers (0-20-1) in the loss.
“The game from the bench, and I am sure from the stands, was pretty slow to watch,” Sabres’ coach Wayne Strachan admitted.
“We tried our best to stay positive and work on our systems,” he added. “Before the game, we talked about not worrying about who we were playing. We wanted to put in a good effort for ourselves and not get any bad habits.
“Did we totally accomplish this? Probably not, but we won the game, we didn’t give up a goal, and we held them to 10 shots.
“They had some systems in place that they didn’t have before and should improve under their new coach [Richard Brozinski],” Strachan remarked. “They are working hard to bring players in, I know that.”
The Sabres now travel to Sioux Lookout for a pair of games with the Flyers this Thursday (Dec. 4) and Saturday (Dec. 6).
Their next home action isn’t until Dec. 20 when they host the Dryden Ice Dogs.
