Mitch Calvert
Time to get back on the winning track.
The Fort Frances Jr. Sabres were left licking their wounds after a three-games-in-three-nights road trip ended with two identical 4-2 losses to the second-place Thunder Bay Bearcats last Friday and Saturday.
The new-and-improved Bearcats (22-7-5) got two goals and four assists from Fort Frances native Tyler Miller, recently acquired from the Port Hope Predators, over the two-game set to extend their lead by seven points over the third-place Sabres (20-11-2).
“Did we play our best over the two-game series? No,” Sabres’ head coach Wayne Strachan admitted.
“I am not going to make excuses about depleted lineups or injuries,” he stressed. “We still iced a good, competitive team but we didn’t play that way in either game.
“You can argue that we were tired from three-games-in-three-nights, but we didn’t lose the games in the third period,” he added. “We lost the games because the effort wasn’t there.”
Graeme McCormack opened the scoring Friday night with a shorthanded goal in the first period, then Jeff Manryk made it 2-0 for the hosts less than five minutes into the second.
Kyle Turgeon got that one back for the Sabres just over two minutes later, but Manryk netted his second of the game early in the third to regain the two-goal margin.
Mitch Cain closed the gap to one once again, but Brad Pawlowski replied for the Bearcats to ice the victory.
The Sabres appeared gassed in Saturday night’s game, allowing 57 shots on goalie Ryan Faragher and once again falling by a 4-2 score.
“We have to show up and give an honest 60 minutes every game. We can’t afford to take any off,” Strachan stressed. “We took many unnecessary penalties that we didn’t have to, [and] their power play has improved since adding some more skill to their lineup.
“The bottom line is we have to get mentally prepared, and know that they are a team we can beat.”
Brooks Mejia and Miller had first-period goals for the Bearcats on Saturday, with Manryk making it 3-0 in the second. The Sabres battled back as Graham Dyck netted one in the second, but then Miller and Turgeon traded third-period goals to round out the scoring.
Despite the two setbacks, a good sign once again was the play of Faragher, who was tested early and often in the two games yet still kept the Sabres within striking distance.
“Ryan has been playing solid all year. He is focused and wants to win hockey games,” Strachan noted. “This is getting noticed, and more and more people in the hockey world are now talking about his name.
“Ryan was good, for the most part, in the three-game set,” Strachan added. “I think he would like a couple goals back from Friday’s game, but we didn’t work hard in front of him to deserve a win anyway.
“We will definitely ride his game as far as we can going down the stretch.”
More than 100 minutes in penalties were assessed Saturday—a common trend when these two teams hook up and even moreso now considering the Fort Frances connection on the Bearcats.
“I think our next game at home versus the Bearcats [Feb. 7] will be huge [as] they have three players in their lineup that are local [Miller, Brian White, and Jeremy Beller],” Strachan said.
“People can say our team didn’t step up and make the trades, [but] we made what we thought were good offers for three 20-year-old players, and in the end couldn’t match what the Bearcats offered to get them,” Strachan insisted. “We are still building a team and they are an established organization for many years now. But, in the end, we thought maybe some loyalty to Fort and the Fort fans would’ve drawn these players back home to end their junior careers.
“This is in the back of our players’ minds, and we will be up for our next meeting with the Bearcats,” he vowed.
The Sabres were without Colton Kennedy for the weekend series against the Bearcats. He has proven to be an impact player on the ice and in the dressing room, but has been plagued by an ankle injury for more than a month now.
“We miss Colton a lot, not only on the ice but his presence in the locker-room,” Strachan remarked. “We are taking it slow with him. We know we need him done the stretch run, and we want him 100 percent before he comes back.”
The Sabres played the last three games with a short bench once again and if they hope to make a run at the SIJHL title, they surely will need to fill out their lineup for the stretch run.
“We are looking to add four players [before Feb. 10], ” Strachan said. “And we have talked to some of the players we traded for last week to see if they would report now, [and] one is thinking about it.
“We have talked to a few other players that are sitting at home right now, and we will see what happens.”
The Sabres will look to return to winning form tomorrow and Friday (Jan. 22-23) with a pair of home games against the Schreiber Diesels.
“Our next two games are huge for us at home,” Strachan stressed. “We haven’t played here in a while, so it will be nice to get some action in front of our fans again.
“We need to forget about the last two games and put them behind us, have a good week of intense practices, and get ready for a team that is hungry to beat us,” he warned. “We need these two games to further our hold on third place and continue our quest to get into second spot.”
The fourth-place Diesels (17-13-3) trail the Sabres by five points.
