Mitch Calvert
The Fort Frances Jr. Sabres are officially in the zone.
Despite spotting visiting Schreiber an early 1-0 lead, the Sabres netted five unanswered goals last night to leapfrog the Diesels into third place in the SIJHL standings.
The Sabres (8-6-1) now have 17 points while the Diesels (8-7) sit in fourth with 16.
The turning point came off an offensive zone face-off in the dying seconds of the first period when Graham Dyck pounced on a rebound in the slot and calmly slid it past Diesels’ goalie Josh Baker with just 1.7 ticks left on the clock.
“Mario [Boivin] took a shot from the point and I saw the rebound and was just going to shoot it, but decided to fake it and put it into the back of the net,” recalled Dyck, who had been stopped by Baker on an breakaway earlier in the period.
“I figured with my luck I’d run out of time, but luckily I finished it off.”
The Sabres made it 2-1 on a power play in the second as Dyck set up shop behind the Diesels’ net and fed a pass to Kyle Turgeon camped out front. Turgeon made no mistake on the one-timer to give the home squad the lead for good.
“Yeah, I like this line a lot,” Dyck said of his recent offensive role with Turgeon and Mitch Cain on the second line. “I’ve played with ‘Turg’ for a while now, and he’s a good linemate to have.
“And with Mitch Cain, I’m going to get lots of opportunities to score so I’ve got to take advantage,” Dyck added.
Gabe Capozzi, another beneficiary of some recent injuries and player departures, also has stepped to the plate alongside Brendan Baumgartner and Chris Sinclair on the top unit.
Capozzi made his presence known last night with six minutes left in the middle frame, tipping a Sinclair pass to Baumgartner on a breakaway—and the Sabres’ leading sniper fired it high glove side to extend the lead to 3-1.
The line hooked up again on a scramble in the Diesels’ slot with three-and-a-half minutes left in the second when Capozzi slid a soft pass to Sinclair waiting all alone at the Diesels’ goal. The captain tapped it into the open cage for a comfortable 4-1 lead.
The Diesels peppered Sabres’ goalie Ryan Faragher with plenty of shots in the third period, backed by four power-play opportunities, but he stood tall—improving his record to 7-4-1 (along with a 2.53 goals against average and .902 save percentage).
Cain added an empty-netter during a six-on-three advantage for the Diesels late in the third to ice the victory.
The Sabres next host the Thunder Bay Bearcats (11-1-2) tonight and tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. at the Ice for Kids Arena.
“We haven’t beat them [the Bearcats] yet but it’s something we have to do on home ice, for sure,” Dyck stressed. “We have to at least get one out of them for sure, but hopefully both.”
Fans again are asked to bring along non-perishable food items to be donated to local food banks, with the chance to win some prizes in exchange for their donations.
