Mitch Calvert
What a difference a year makes.
The Fort Frances Jr. Sabres exacted revenge on the Schreiber Diesels with a pair of wins here last week to close out their regular-season schedule and hold onto third place in the SIJHL standings.
Last season, the Diesels stole three of four points in the two-game regular-season finale at the Ice for Kids Arena, then knocked the Sabres out of the playoffs the following week.
“We didn’t want them to come into our barn at the end of the regular season like last year and take away points from us, and it solidified us as the third-place team,” Sabres’ forward Brendan Baumgartner said.
With the pair of the wins (5-4 on Thursday night and then 6-3 on Friday), the Sabres finished the regular season with a 30-17-3 record, which included nine victories in 10 tries against the Diesel.
“We dumped and fore-checked lots, and [Schreiber] can’t handle our speed,” Baumgartner added. “Their defence is a little slow-footed and we just bang them.”
The Sabres now turn their attention to a first-round showdown with the last-place Sioux Lookout Flyers—opening the best-of-five series this Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Ice for Kids Arena.
Game 3 will go next Tuesday (March 17) at 8:30 p.m. in Sioux Lookout, with Game 4 (if necessary) taking place Wednesday (March 18) at 7:30 p.m. in Ignace.
Should the series go the distance, Game 5 would be held back here Friday, March 20 at 7:30 p.m.
Schreiber, meanwhile, wrapped up its regular season with a 5-3 loss to the Dryden Ice Dogs on Saturday, but still will host the fifth-place Ice Dogs in the other quarter-final series.
The SIJHL’s top two teams—the Fort William North Stars and Thunder Bay Bearcats—have first-round byes.
“Sioux Lookout is a much-improved team since Randy [Lulashuyk] took over the helm there,” Sabres’ head coach Wayne
Strachan warned.
“They play with a system and don’t quit working,” he noted. “Randy has them believing, playing with a purpose, and has set goals for them to achieve.
“One of them is a first-round upset.
“We can’t look at their regular-season record,” Strachan stressed. “It is a new season now and the team that competes, wins the one-on-one battles, plays the most consistent, and has the will to win will be successful.”
The Sabres know all too well what taking the Flyers lightly can do—as evidenced by the 7-4 loss they suffered back on Jan. 27.
“We have in the back of our minds that we are one of the teams they beat, and beat handily when they did,” Strachan remarked.
“We have plenty of players with playoff experience and need to use this to our advantage against a first-year team.”
The Flyers also come equipped with three former Sabres—Adam and A.J. Wensley, along with goalie David Novak—who will be looking to upset their former team.
“The three of them are all good hockey players,” Strachan said. “Dave has beat us once and will be looking for more, you can guarantee. A.J. logs a lot of ice time, has got himself in good shape, skating well, and has had a successful season.
“Adam is a player that I like a lot,” Strachan added. “He plays physical, gets his nose dirty, and creates things offensively because of the way he plays.”
The Sabres didn’t always look pretty in their back-to-back wins against the Diesels last week, but there were plenty of positives to take out of the sweep.
In Thursday night’s 5-4 win, the home side led 2-0 after one period on goals by Baumgartner and Dan Usiski, but the Diesels roared back with three unanswered tallies in the second by Phil Gauvin, Colin Wise, and JP Boucha.
“We came out strong and played a solid first period, [but] then our discipline went south and our legs quit working,” Strachan noted. “Schreiber battled hard and took it to us to get the lead.
“After the second [period], the speech wasn’t that pleasant, as you can imagine,” he added. “We were fighting for third place and seemingly let it fall from our grasps as we watched them in the second period.”
The talk clearly woke up the Sabres as Kenny Carpenter tied the score just 30 seconds into the third when he slipped a quick wrist shot from the point past Josh Baker while on the power play.
The Diesels again reclaimed the lead when Dmitri Panagiotou scooped up a rebound alone in front and roofed it over Ryan Faragher.
But the Sabres then took advantage of some untimely Diesel penalties when Chris Sinclair tapped one into an empty net on a 5-on-3 power play off a nifty passing play between Mitch Cain and Baumgartner.
The Diesels again were whistled for a minor penalty just five minutes later—and Carpenter made them pay with his second goal of the night and sixth on the season.
The B.C. native pinched in from the point to keep the puck in, then finished off a nice give-and-go play between him and Graham Dyck below the hash marks.
Friday night’s game started out quite differently as Panagiotou opened the scoring for the visitors less than a minute in. But Kalib Thunderchief got that one back before the period was three minutes old, tipping Mike Boese’s point shot past Diesels’ back-up goalie Michael Trichilo on a power play.
The Diesels again returned fire with a goal by Darren Turner to take a slim 2-1 lead into the intermission, but Cain rushed past several Diesels’ defenders to score a highlight-reel goal early in the second.
Baumgartner’s centering pass then hit a skate in front and found its way through Trichilo for the lead soon after.
“Good things happen when you throw it at the net,” Baumgartner said of his goal. “I was trying to hit Sinclair but it banked off their D-man and went in.
“I haven’t really been having that much luck around the net, but kind of exploded at the end of the year here,” he added.
Baumgartner netted his second of the game, and sixth over the final three games, less than a minute into the third before Cain connected with Kyle Turgeon for a one-timer on another power play at 16:58 to extend the lead to 5-2.
Dyck set up Ryan Witherspoon from behind the goal at 14:65 to make it 6-2. Clayton Lewis added a late one for the Diesels to round out the scoring.
“I think both teams were a little drained from the third-place battle and emotion of the first game,” Strachan said of Friday’s sleeper. “The game really meant nothing as far as [the] standings go, however, we had a goal to get 30 wins and for the most part we remained focused and achieved what we set out to do.”
The injury to Colton Kennedy gives other players additional ice time, and Thunderchief has stepped up on the top line while Witherspoon has filled a spot on the checking unit with Dyck and Colin Moberly.
“[Thunderchief] brings a presence, lets me and ‘Sink’ get a little bit more room out there,” Baumgartner noted. “He’s strong down low and a lot of defenders can’t handle him.”
Strachan said the trio played together earlier in the season when Kennedy was battling an ankle injury—and seemed to be a nice fit with the Sabres’ two leading scorers.
“It was best for the team that we went this way so that we stayed balanced up front,” Strachan said. “Thunderchief has so far answered the bell. He is moving his feet and getting to the net to make things happen.
“We need that line to be huge if we are going to have success in the first round,” he stressed.
The move also meant Witherspoon took Thunderchief’s spot on the third line.
“It gives Ryan a chance to get more ice [time] and he is the type of player that will seize this opportunity,” Strachan said. “He has a competitive attitude and plays the game with an edge.
“I believe he complements Dyck and Moberly well, and they all have good size and strength, especially down low in the corners for cycling.”
Goalie Kyle Ruhl started his first game since Feb. 4 in Friday’s win, and looked shaky early on before settling in and all but shutting the door over the final 40 minutes.
“I think Kyle was a little nervous at the start of the game, but he settled in nicely in the second and third and did a great job,” Strachan remarked. “He is very competitive and hard on himself to get better.
“We know that he will be ready if the call comes and he proved it in the games he played.”
The Sabres playoff ritual took on a bizarre twist this season, with most of the guys getting pretty crazy with hair dye in a mix of red, black, blond, and pink, with some drawing comparisons to Ronald McDonald or punk rockers.
“Everybody kind of did their own thing,” Baumgartner admitted. “I went to go bleached blond and it went a little white for me.
“Some guys did a little red or black, but it’s just a good thing to do to bring the team together for the playoffs and everybody looks good,” he laughed.
“We did black last year, but some of the guys couldn’t get it out of their hair at the end of the year.”
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