Staff
The Fort Frances Lakers have vaulted into third place in the SIJHL standings–at least for now.
Hunter Buzzi netted a pair of goals to lead the Lakers to a 5-3 win over the English River Miners on Tuesday night at the Ice For Kids Arena.
With the victory, the Lakers improved to 4-4-1-1 (10 points).
That puts them one point up on the Thunder Bay North Stars (4-3-1-0), who visit the Miners tonight.
The Miners opened the scoring Tuesday when Coleton Johnson netted his first SIJHL tally at 4:18 of the first period.
But the Lakers battled back on Jack Bernie’s first goal of the season at 11:30.
Noah Loveday then notched his first goal just 36 seconds later to make it 2-1.
The Lakers added another goal with four minutes left in the first on Jeff Venzon’s short-handed tally, which also was his first goal of the season.
Buzzi beat Miners’ goalie Michael Lenko six-and-a-half minutes into the second period for a 4-1 lead.
Jared Janke got one back with a short-handed marker midway through the period to pull the visitors to within two.
Stratton Pickett then tallied to make it a one-goal game heading into the third.
But that was close as the Miners got as Buzzi added an insurance tally 1:02 into the final stanza to round out the scoring.
Brett Akins started for the Lakers and picked up the win, turning aside 23-of-26 shots before giving way to Rob Ivy to begin the third.
Ivy handled all 12 shots he face in relief.
Lenko had 19 saves in taking the loss for the Miners (2-6-0-0).
The Lakers next head back to Hoyt Lakes to face the Minnesota Iron Rangers (1-5-0-2) tomorrow at 7 p.m.
Then they’ll host the first-place Thief River Falls Norskies (8-0-0-0) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
The Dryden GM Ice Dogs (6-0-1-1) remain in second place in the standings with 14 points.
Editor’s note: This article was compiled based on information posted on the SIJHL website.
