Staff
Two weeks ago, the Fort Frances Lakers had lost three in a row and were wondering how to get out of fifth place in the SIJHL standings.
Now they’ve won four-straight and look to be in fifth gear while having a more than realistic shot at second place.
The annual SIJHL “Showcase” in Thief River Falls served to be an extended proving ground for the three-time defending SIJHL champs, who ripped the Minnesota Iron Rangers 8-1 on Tuesday afternoon before nipping the host Norskies 2-1 yesterday.
The Lakers (18-14-2-3) have won seven of their past eight outings and sit just two points behind the third-place Norskies (19-15-2-3).
In Tuesday’s game, Cody Merritt and Jonathan Yanovsky traded goals 1:30 apart in the first period before the Lakers exploded for the final seven goals.
Jack Bernie made it 2-1 before Julian Uhryniuk added to the lead only 48 seconds later.
Jared Virtanen struck 51 seconds into the second period, followed by Dylan Kooner and Mark Richter with his first of the season.
Virtanen then notched his second of the period before Merritt closed out his first multi-goal and multi-point game as a Laker with the Iron Rangers’ net empty at the time.
Brandon Bodnar rebounded with 33 saves to earn win after getting yanked against the English River Miners on Saturday, when he gave up four goals on eight shots in less than 12 minutes.
“I didn’t feel we played an overly great first period, but we were putting pucks to the net and beat their goalie three times,” noted Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan.
“I thought in the second, we took over and did a good job of being around their net other than the empty-net goal,” he noted.
“We got a few bounces our way but took advantage of those opportunities to have success.”
Then against the Norskies yesterday, the Lakers got the only goal of the first period when Virtanen tallied for the sixth time in his past three games.
Brett Pickler made it 2-0 with the lone marker of the second.
Keaton Huot charged up the home crowd by tallying at 7:27 of the third to close the gap.
But the Norskies got no closer as Jessie Heisz made 34 stops to outduel Ryan Buttazzoni (32 saves).
“I thought for the first two periods we did a good job of keeping things to the perimeter,” said Strachan.
“We did get lucky a few times as missed assignments didn’t end up hurting us.
“Jessie played well,” he added.
“In the third, they pushed hard at times and as we did throughout the game, we clogged the front of the net up, paid the price in blocking shots, and found our way to get sticks on pucks.”
Affiliate player Hunter Buzzi, called up from the Kenora Thistles of the Manitoba Midget ‘AAA’ Hockey League, played his second game with the Lakers this season and first since Nov. 4.
Not in the lineup were defenceman Brandon Zajicek, who is out two-four weeks with an upper-body injury.
Forwards Austin Petrie is out four-six weeks with an ankle injury while Tyler Malpass (upper body) is listed as out indefinitely.
Domi Allan was healthy scratch.
The Lakers can pull even in the standings with the Norskies when they return to the Ralph Engelstad Arena on Friday for a rematch.
Their next home game is Feb. 3 against English River.
