Lucas Punkari
In a game that could be a preview of a semi-final series, the Fort Frances Lakers rallied to beat the visiting Dryden Ice Dogs 5-4 on Tuesday night.
With the win, the Lakers (26-15-0-1) grabbed sole possession of second place in the SIJHL standings from the Ice Dogs and hold a two-point cushion over their rivals heading into this weekend.
“With us being tied with them in the standings, and having let two points slip away on Saturday [against the Minnesota Iron Rangers], this was a must-win game for us,” stressed Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan.
“If we had lost, I would have felt that we gave away the game to them as the defensive breakdowns that we had are something that we shouldn’t have at this point in the season,” he noted.
“But I can’t take away anything from the guys as they kept fighting back and found a way to get the job done.”
The Lakers stay in second place may not last long, though.
They don’t play again until next week while the three teams chasing them in standings—the Ice Dogs, Thunder Bay North Stars, and Iron Rangers—all will be in action this weekend.
After trailing 4-3 early in the third period Tuesday night, Joel Bogacki knotted the score near the midway point of the frame when his shot worked its way through traffic and beat Ice Dogs’ goalie Eric Szymczyk.
Then with five minutes to go, Jordan Christianson took a feed from Colton Spicer and worked his way into the offensive zone with teammate Patrick Sofer by his side.
As the pair skated towards the Ice Dogs’ net, Christianson passed the puck to Sofer, who solved Szymczyk to give the Lakers the lead.
“It was a great pass by Cody Wickstrom to hit Spicer, and then he made a heads-up play to give it to me before I saw Sofer coming in alongside of me,” Christianson recalled.
“He [Christianson] made a great feed over to me and I was just able to put it on net,” Sofer said.
The Ice Dogs pulled Szymczyk with a little over a minute left to try and net the equalizer, but the visitors were unable to mount a substantial attack on the Lakers’ goal to force overtime.
“It was a tight game that could have gone either way,” noted Ice Dogs’ head coach Paul Maclean.
“I think Eric played a great game for us in goal, but the shot from the point [by Bogacki] was one that he really didn’t see and I think that was a turning point.
“[But] there were a lot of positives that we can take from tonight though going forward,” he added.
Christianson led the Lakers offensively with a goal and an assist while Wickstrom and Mason Meyer chipped in with a pair of helpers.
Spicer, Tyler Brodersen, and Alex Bruess also scored for the home crew.
Tyson Holder and Mike Butler both had three-point nights for the Ice Dogs, with Holder scoring two goals and assisting on another while Butler found the back of the net once and helped out on two others.
Len Pelletier had the other goal for Dryden.
Tuesday’s win did come at a price however, as captain Merritt Rysavy left the game late in the second period after suffering a hit to the head.
“Right now with Merritt, it’s probably going to be day-to-day,” Strachan said.
“When he came off, he took a blatant hit to the head and he didn’t remember the hit or even coming off the ice, so it’s something we have to watch with concussions and what not,” Strachan added.
“It’s just unfortunate that a hit like that doesn’t get called.”
The Lakers’ next game is set for Tuesday (Feb. 12) at 7:30 p.m. when the Iron Rangers invade the Ice For Kids Arena.
The contest that feature the home side wearing special pink jerseys.
“That will be kind of a fun thing and it’ll be cool for the fans to see,” Christianson said.
The uniforms will be available for purchase on a first-come, first-served basis during the game, then will be available for pick-up during the team’s Valentine Day dinner next Thursday (Feb. 14) from 5-7 p.m. at the Fort High cafeteria.
All proceeds from the jersey sales will go back to the squad.
In other news, Lakers’ goalie Talor Joseph was named the SIJHL’s player-of-the-week prior to Tuesday night’s game.
Joseph, who is 3-0 after joining the team last month, earned the award after turning in a 35-save performance in a win over the Ice Dogs in Dryden last Wednesday night.
