Mitch Calvert
Despite an influx of newcomers in the Thunder Bay Bearcats’ lineup in recent weeks, it was an old nemesis who came back to bite the Fort Frances Jr. Sabres here Saturday night.
Brad Pawlowski scored on a power play in the second period to help propel the Bearcats to a 3-1 victory over the Sabres before 540 fans at the Ice for Kids Arena.
“Well, obviously it wasn’t the outcome we wanted, but I think we played a strong game,” Sabres’ head coach Wayne Strachan said. “We needed to have a strong showing against them, and for the most part we played a pretty solid game and gained some much-needed confidence.
“It was good to see that big of a crowd and I am glad we gave them a good showing,” Strachan added.
Graeme McCormack’s point shot through a screen accounted for the only goal of the first period, then the Bearcats seemed to go into a defensive shell trying to protect the lead.
“They have been trapping more as the year has went on,” Strachan said of the Bearcats’ strategy. “The last three games we have seen them, they have trapped us the whole game.
“We have to use our speed and reverse the puck to counter against it,” he stressed.
The defensive system seemed to backfire in the second period as the Bearcats continually were on their heels and forced to take five penalties.
“When you are on the road, it’s nice to get an early lead and play the trap and try to slow the game down, and take it away from the fans and what not,” said Bearcats’ forward and Fort Frances native Tyler Miller.
“[But] if you get caught in the trap, you start taking penalties and it showed tonight [Saturday].”
Despite the Bearcats’ parade to the penalty box, the Sabres couldn’t get a goal past Josh Mrakic until Chris Sinclair bulged the twine with a man advantage just five seconds before the second intermission.
“Kenny [Carpenter] was battling for the puck, it came loose, and I looked up and had a lot more time than I thought,” Sinclair said of the play. “I [saw] Mrakic try to poke check [me] and so I just pulled it in around him and put it in with my backhand.”
The Bearcats received an animated tongue-lashing from head coach Jeff Ricciardi between periods after giving up the late goal.
“We shouldn’t have let that goal in with five seconds left,” Miller admitted. “It was right what he said. We still had the lead 2-1, and we just kept our heads up and listened to what coach said and finished the job.”
After Sinclair’s goal, the Sabres’ power play had two other key chances in the third, including a full six-on-four advantage in the final minute with the goalie pulled, but failed to convert.
“Our power play was not strong at all this game and hasn’t been for some time now,” Strachan lamented.
“The players we are using have to be more intense and make smarter decisions,” he added. “We didn’t penetrate the middle of the ice enough in their zone, and nobody wanted to pay the price in front of the net.”
As a result, most of Mrakic’s 22 saves were of the unobstructed variety.
“Made the saves when he had to and played well for them, [but] to be critical of us, we didn’t attack the net enough and make the game hard for him,” Strachan admitted.
Graham Dyck centered a line entrusted with shutting down Miller’s unit (with Brian White and Kyle Tront), and he and Sabres’ defenceman Rod Bouchard did a superb job limiting their open ice—keeping them off the scoresheet until Tront iced the victory with an empty-netter in the dying seconds.
“The Miller line is strong offensively and skilled. We just tried not to give them any room and play physical against them as much as we could,” Strachan noted. “The line and defence partners that we played against them did their job in containing them.”
The Sabres were without first-line centre Colton Kennedy for much of the game after he received a five-minute major and game misconduct for a hit-from-behind on Ryan Stokes in the first period.
Jon Sinclair subsequently got more minutes on the ice, and created chances in just his fourth junior game, including earning some time on a line with brother, Chris, and Brendan Baumgartner.
“Yeah, that was pretty good to play with those guys and we got some stuff going,” the younger Sinclair said. “Hopefully, I can get some opportunities like that again.”
The Sabres fell to 23-14-3 with the loss and now are only four points up on the Schreiber Diesels (who were hosting the Sioux Lookout Flyers last night) in the battle for third place in the SIJHL standings.
Meanwhile, the Bearcats (27-7-5) are just four points behind the league-leading Fort William North Stars.
“It’s been a tough couple weeks, with the loss to Sioux Lookout and the overtime loss to Dryden, but things are looking up after [Saturday’s] game,” Chris Sinclair said. “Hopefully, we can carry it on into [this] weekend’s battle with the North Stars.”
Strachan stressed the importance of continuing the hard play and not taking a step back when the North Stars come to town this Friday and Saturday (Feb. 13-14).
“We are definitely going to have to be as good as Saturday night or better,” he warned. “We played them strong on the road the last time we played them [took three of four points back on Jan. 9-10] and will need all or much of that effort again this coming weekend.”
