The Fort Frances Lakers finished with a league-worst record this season finishing with just five wins, 35 losses and one overtime loss and were swept by the Dryden GM Ice Dogs in three games in the playoffs, scoring only one goal.
Interim Head Coach Ron MacKinnon says a big part of the Lakers’ troubles this year stem from a lack of players.
“Our main issue was the numbers and the amount of injuries and sickness we sustained,” MacKinnon said. “For the last few games we were playing shorthanded, but the guys that were playing gave everything they could.”
MacKinnon went on to say that in game three of the SIJHL Playoffs, the team only had one natural defenseman dressed while the rest of the defense was covered by regular forwards doing their part to help the team.
“In game one (of the playoffs) we started with close to a full lineup, but we sustained some injuries,” MacKinnon said. “We had three concussions, and some other injuries, we had one player down with an illness, it wasn’t COVID, but he was sick with the flu for a week. Dryden is a tough team to play against, playing against them three times in four nights, there’s just no time for rest.”
Lakers President Gary Silander says part of the reason the team ended up shorthanded was the team was behind on the recruiting front.
“We got off to a late start as far as recruiting goes,” Silander said. “Then at the trade deadline we made some trades for the betterment of the team and then kids didn’t report (to the Lakers) and left us short staffed. In an injury plagued season we always played with a short bench pretty much every game.”
The COVID restrictions that stretched through January hurt the team when players who were picked up by trade opted not to play due to inconsistency in the league, Silander added. He’s hopeful some of those players will join the Lakers next season.
“We lost a couple kids over COVID, when they cancelled over Christmastime,” Silander said. “They were signed at the trade deadline, then they just decided to quit because there’s no consistency in the league. Hopefully we get them back next year.”
In an effort to ramp up early recruitment efforts, the Lakers have already announced a prospect camp for the offseason running July 15-17 in Detroit Lakes, MN. More information can be found at fortfranceslakers.com.
Another roadblock both Silander and MacKinnon have seen is the Lakers unfortunate association with former coach Bernie Lynch.
Lynch was the head coach of the Lakers when allegations of impropriety and sexual assault came to light. The allegations against Lynch have yet to be proven in court.
“To be perfectly honest, we’re still getting over this Bernie Lynch thing,” MacKinnon said.
MacKinnon recounted a story of a recent recruiting call with a prospective player from eastern Canada. MacKinnon told the player if he or his parents had any questions to call back.
“Well my phone rang 20 minutes later,” Mackinnon said. “And it was his dad, ensuring that Bernie Lynch was no longer involved.”
The player’s father had had previous experience with Lynch himself as a young man and while hadn’t been involved with any of the alleged incidents he had teammates involved.
Silander says that he believes some people think that the Lakers tried to cover things up when the allegations against Lynch came to light.
“It’s one of those things, people think the Lakers hid a bunch of stuff,” Silander said. “We didn’t hide anything whatsoever. We were helped by Hockey Canada, we weren’t allowed to say anything until three months later, when we could finally announce that he was terminated. So a lot of people were upset and then we got off to a late start hiring new coaches.”
The Lakers are starting the offseason without a head coach again this year. MacKinnon took the position on an interim basis after the Lakers started the season under Dave Allison who left for the Fairbanks Ice Dogs of the North American Hockey League in January.
“Given the opportunity I’d love to come back,” MacKinnon said.
Silander says there will be a hiring process and that MacKinnon is welcome to apply for the position on a more permanent basis. The Lakers hope to have hiring completed by early May.
“There will be a hiring process, whether it’s Ron or whoever,” Silander said. “If you do it too soon everybody else is still in the playoffs. If you get the ones that are already knocked out there’s probably a reason why. So we kind of have to wait for the end of the seasons and then you throw the advertisement out there and find people who are looking to move on or get let go, and we’ll go from there.”
In the meantime, Lakers assistant coach Tyler Miller is working on recruiting and is the point person for the camp in July in Minnesota.
Silander wanted to thank all of those involved with the Lakers this year from fans to players and volunteers.
“I just want to thank the boys for the effort they put in all season,” Silander said. “It’s kind of tough to be in the basement all year but they came and they played with heart and gave it 100 per cent effort, game after game. I would really like to thank the board members, the community and the billet families for everything they did for us this year.”
