Sabres drop pair against high-flying North Stars

The Fort Frances Jr. Sabres hosted a tough opponent in the Fort William North Stars this past weekend, managing only one of four possible points despite some strong play.
The Sabres fell 6-4 Friday night in a game capped by an empty-netter by Fort William, then lost 6-5 in overtime on Saturday.
“We salvaged something out of the series,” Sabres’ head coach Wayne Strachan said shortly after the overtime loss. “It’s kind of hard to take right now, we worked so hard in this game and showed a lot of character. . . .
“It’s really a mood killer at this point.”
While the Sabres fell behind early on Friday, trailing 3-1 after the first period, they fought tooth-and-nail throughout Saturday’s re-match.
Fort Frances trailed 3-1 after a goal by Darren Cizmar late in the second, but JP Boucha responded with his first tally of the season just 21 seconds later.
The third period went back and forth between the two clubs.
Alessio Tomassetti evened the score at 3-3 on a power play just two minutes into the third before Aaron Smith gave Fort William the lead back with an unassisted marker.
Mario Boivin evened the score minutes later, again on the power play, with a unpredictable hopper that bounced past goalie Mike Bannon before Brennan Menard made it 5-4 for the visitors with an equally fluky unassisted goal.
But Brock Owen scored on the power play, set up by a smart pass by Tomassetti, to tie the game once again with just 12.1 seconds on the clock to bring the crowd to its feet.
A soft tap by Zacharie Fontaine that found its way by goalie David Novak just 38 seconds into overtime deflated both the crowd and the Sabres.
“They showed a lot of character, a lot of pride,” Strachan said of his players, putting a positive face on the weekend.
“I think we’re going in the right direction,” he added. “We’ve proven in the last two games against Dryden [currently in first place] and this weekend [that] we can play with them.”
The North Stars have spent most of the month atop the standings and currently are ranked 14th on the CJAHL’s top 15—the only SIJHL team on the cross-Canada list.
“We were in both games,” Strachan continued. “I’m not going to say we deserved to win, but when we show up, we can play with anyone. That’s a good team over there.”
Tomassetti, who had two goals and an assist on the weekend, including a tying goal and then setting up the Sabres’ final goal on Saturday, earned first star honours after the game and admitted the loss was tough to swallow.
“We thought we were gonna get the victory, but the bounces didn’t go our way . . . we played good, we came out and did our best,” he remarked.
With nine goals scored over the two games and some disciplined play that yielded a season-low three power plays for the opposition on Saturday, Strachan pointed to goaltending as the team’s biggest weakness over the weekend.
Ryan Faragher allowed five goals on 44 shots on Friday night, with Novak turning away 33 but letting in six the following night.
“We got let down by our goaltending this week,” said Strachan. “It’s frustrating because it seems one aspect of our game goes good and the other gets weak.
“They’re both young. They’re both learning the junior game,” Strachan said of Faragher and Novak. “I’m certainly not disappointed with either of their play up until now, but when we needed a big save, they haven’t been there. . . .
“At this point, I’m not panicking. They’re both solid goalies,” he added.
The team is in the midst of a week with no games but plenty of time to prepare for another long road trip, starting in Schreiber to face the Diesels the following weekend, starting Nov. 2.
The Sabres tied Schreiber 3-3 in their only previous meeting back on Oct. 14.
“We’ll regroup and we’ll be ready once we go to Schreiber,” Strachan predicted.
Tomassetti raised the stakes a bit higher. “We should get the win against Schreiber. It’s a must-win for us,” he stressed.
When asked why, the winger didn’t mince words.
“’Cause that team is not as good as we are,” he remarked. “When we play, we can take it to any team in this league.”