Sabres lose three straight to rival Ice Dogs

The Fort Frances Jr. Sabres have nothing to do but think and train for the next week, having lost three games in a row to the Dryden Ice Dogs.
The Sabres were looking to rebound last night, hosting the rival Ice Dogs after enduring 5-1 and 7-3 losses in Dryden over the weekend, but wound up with an all too similar 6-2 loss.
“To lose three, that’s tough on everyone’s confidence, and you know, really, the scores were all pretty big margins of losses,” said head coach Wayne Strachan. “I think the biggest reason is they have some offensive talent, and when we had some defensive breakdowns, they capitalized.”
All three games played out similarly—the Sabres were threatening by the end of the first period, but blown out by the beginning of the third. While Dryden earned four-goal leads in all three matches, the difference wasn’t spotty goaltending as much as a porous defence that lapsed for critical portions of second periods.
“We weren’t that badly outplayed. There were spurts of seven, eight minutes where we weren’t at our best and that’s all they needed to take advantage of it,” Strachan said.
The game was seen as a must-win by many, including the coach, who admitted he was surprised to see this one slip away after goals by captain Quinn Amiel and recent addition Matthew York early in the second gave the Sabres a tentative 2-1 lead.
While the team didn’t fare too well against Dryden, York flourished in his first games in the SIJHL. York—described by Strachan as a power forward, and younger brother of Sabres’ defenceman MacKenzie York—comes to Fort Frances after spending last season with the Lloydminster Bobcats of the AJHL, having scored a goal and four assists in 34 games.
He eclipsed one of those numbers already, scoring two goals in his first three games.
Strachan figures York will get time on the top two lines with the Sabres—something elder brother MacKenzie, still sidelined with a leg injury, is happy about.
“He’s a good kid,” he said. “He’ll do well, I hope.”
Strachan split the goaltending duties over the weekend. Ryan Faragher absorbed all five of the goals in Friday night’s game before being spelled by David Novak.
“I didn’t pull him because I thought he was bad, I thought the team was bad,” Strachan said after the game.
“Faragher, I feel bad for him because we just left him out to dry for a couple of periods,” Amiel added.
Novak got the start Saturday and played the full three periods, yielding all seven goals. Faragher returned to the crease last night, and while he couldn’t pull out the win, he for the most part looked sharp and made the saves he was capable of.
“I don’t want to blame it on one guy,” Strachan said, “and he had one or two weak goals but it came down to not working hard enough, not being physical and letting them dictate the play.”
While most of the team didn’t enjoy the trip up Highway 502, winger Colin Spencer—a Dryden native—seemed to make the best of it.
Spencer played some physical hockey in front of a number of friends and family, and after getting into a fight during Friday’s game, was greeted by a couple of friends in the hall when he emerged in suit from the Sabres’ locker-room.
“I always look forward to coming home and playing. It’s a good environment for me, and knowing some of the guys on the other team, it’s a good rivalry to have,” he said.
He insisted he wasn’t turning up his physical game just for a few friendly faces in the crowd.
“I had a meeting with Wayne and [assistant coach Jon] Cooper, and we kind of set out my expectations,” Spencer noted. “I’m a 20-year-old player, I’m a vet . . . had to get something started to spark up my team.”
The Sabres have ten days between games, not seeing action until they host the Thunder Bay Bearcats on Oct. 5. Strachan said that there will be some tough practices in the interim, “some changes made” and “some new faces coming in.”
“There’s a few guys that haven’t gotten the message that they have to get in shape, and they’re making it a lot easier to make the decisions here,” he said.