Joey Payeur
If the tail kickings delivered by their opponents continue, the pain in the Fort Frances Lakers’ collective butts is going to come from two other sources: slivers from the bench and Wayne Strachan’s boot.
The head coach/general manager is getting more irritated by the minute with the inability of the defending three-time SIJHL champs to be competitive on a consistent basis so far this season.
It’s a theme that continued this past weekend with a pair of home losses by scores of 4-1 to the Thunder Bay North Stars on Friday night and then 6-1 to the English River Miners on Saturday.
The fifth-place Lakers (1-5-0-1) not only went 0-for-8 on the power play both nights, but they gave up two man-advantage goals to first-place Thunder Bay (7-2-1) and three to third-place English River (4-2).
Adding insult to injury, the Miners also netted a pair of short-handed tallies.
“I thought our 5-on-4 penalty killing was not bad as we limited their opportunities until they got the late one in the third on us,” noted Strachan.
“But we let two 5-on-3 goals in, and to be in that situation when we are battling ourselves with our own game is not acceptable and it needs to stop,” he stressed.
“We are taking four-five bad penalties a game and, as happened versus the Miners, players are going to start sitting,” Strachan added.
“Our power play is too slow right now, there is no intensity, and the chances we do get either no one is around the net or we don’t have any hunger to score.
“Until this changes, we will suffer in this area,” he warned.
On top of all that, starting goalie Billy Gorn have to leave Friday night’s game against the North Stars after dislocating his shoulder in just his second game back after being out since training camp with a groin injury.
Gorn, who won his Lakers’ debut Oct. 8, is listed as “day-to-day.” But his absence further complicates the situation between the pipes for Strachan as the team still has four goalies on the roster in Gorn, veteran Brandon Bodnar, and newcomers Ryan Wagner and Dylan Ossachuk.
“Losing Billy hurts,” admitted Strachan. “I thought he has played well.
“We had a good talk with [Bodnar] the other day to get a feel where he is at with his game and will decide this week what we are doing,” he added.
“We cannot have four goalies here anymore and expect results,” he stressed.
“This is my fault and we will make decisions this week.”
Meanwhile, North Stars’ goalie Nathaniel Dupuis had a pretty easy time of things in making 19 saves after giving up Dylan Kooner’s early marker on what Strachan termed a “dismal” effort.
“We looked uninterested and just made too many mistakes because our intensity was not high and it cost us, especially in the third,” he lamented.
“You cannot have 20 shots and no net front pressure if you want to win hockey games.
“I thought we played a good first five minutes and then just quit battling, competing, and made a lot of bad turnovers because we were trying to be too individual,” Strachan noted.
As for the Miners, who had lost 24-straight games to the Lakers entering this season, they won their second in a row against Fort Frances by scoring twice in each period Saturday night.
Ossachuk gave up three goals on 12 shots in his SIJHL debut before giving way to Ryan Wagner (19 saves) just 10 seconds into the second period after Sidney Gladue put the Miners up 3-0.
After ruling the SIJHL the past three seasons, the Lakers shouldn’t expect any shoulders of sympathy to lean on from their opponents.
There’s certainly none being offered by their head coach.
“We need guys to buy into our plan and everyone to get on the same page,” Strachan said.
“We need players to stop feeling sorry for themselves on and off the ice.
“We need to become a team and competing as 20 men on the ice, not individuals.
“In practice, we need to be more intense, concentrate on where we need to improve, and work hard at it,” he added.
“I think if we can get more intensity in our practices, then it translates to games.
“We don’t have that now consistently and it is hurting our game,” Strachan conceded.
Defenceman Connor Keith made his Lakers’ debut Friday night after being picked up from the Virden Oil Capitals (MJHL) on Oct. 9 for future considerations.
“I didn’t mind his game,” Strachan said about the 18-year-old Kenora native.
“He skates well, has good skill, played physical when he had to, and adds to our depth,” he noted.
Keith had no points in four games with Virden this season after spending the last two seasons with the Kenora Thistles in the Manitoba Midget ‘AA’ Hockey League, where he had 20 points in 79 regular-season games.
Strachan also announced forward Jacob Longmore, a 19-year-old from Port Coquitlam, B.C., who only played one game with the Lakers this season due to concussion issues, was released Saturday.
The Lakers were at the Cochenour Arena last night to face the host Miners to complete the home-and-home series (the score was unavailable at press time).
Then they’ll play another home-and-home set against the last-place Minnesota Iron Rangers (1-5) beginning Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the IFK Arena.
The rematch is set for Saturday down in Hoyt Lakes.
