Staff
If the top two teams in the SIJHL believe someone is breathing down their necks, they’re right.
The Fort Frances Lakers are charging up the standings thanks to a three-game winning streak, including a pair of home victories over the weekend.
The third-place Lakers (22-11-3) doubled the second-place Dryden Ice Dogs (24-14) 6-3 on Saturday night at the Ice for Kids Arena.
That cut the Ice Dogs’ lead over Fort Frances to one point, and pulled the local squad to within four points of the first-place Wisconsin Wilderness (24-6-3).
Dan Smith keyed a four-goal outburst in the third period with a natural hat trick that broke open a 2-2 tie.
Davis Smith, Connor Hady, and Jon Sinclair added singles for the Lakers, who connected three times on the power play, while Byron Katapaytuk assisted on all three of Dan Smith’s tallies.
Tom Kuhn, Alex Galbraith, and Ben McClellan replied for Dryden, which had won nine of its previous 10 games.
Tyler Ampe turned aside 25 shots to earn the win between the pipes while Ian Perrier stopped 19 pucks in a losing cause.
The Lakers, who have two games in hand on Dryden, began the weekend with a hard-fought 3-2 decision over the now cellar-dwelling Duluth Clydesdales (9-25-2).
Foreshadowing his heroics of the following evening, Dan Smith netted the game-winner on a second-period power-play and the Clydesdales could never pull even after that.
Henry Gutierrez and Jace Baldwin also lit the lamp against Duluth, with Tom Paine and Matt Jerulle scoring for the visitors.
Jameson Shortreed made 23 saves to earn the win while Jeff Dunaisky racked up 32 stops for the Clydesdales.
The Lakers next head to Sioux Lookout on Wednesday to face the fifth-place Flyers (8-22-5) before returning home to face Duluth once again this Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Ice for Kids Arena.
