The Fort Frances Lakers would like to announce the return of goalie Pierce Dushenko.
We are very happy to have Pierce back in the fold for next season. It was somewhat of a relief for me to here those words “I want to return to the team” the other night on the phone. He was outstanding for us last year going 11 – 2. In the playoffs we didn’t help him vs. the North Stars and he got hung out to dry in my opinion, but came in relief in game 2 vs. Dryden and gave us a chance to come back in the hockey game and have a chance to win.
I cannot say enough about what he did in the Dudley Hewitt Cup. Pressed into action in our third round robin game vs. Dryden after not playing a lot throughout the playoffs, he came up big to help us advance to the semi-final round. In the semi-final where we jumped out on Toronto and they gave us everything in the second and third, he stopped 16 shots in the third to prevail for the win and advance to the finals. He did everything he could to give us a chance to win in the final making many big saves.
As a coach, and in that moment when you have to call upon that guy who maybe hasn’t seen action in sometime to come up big, you never know how it may turn out. But in this case, when I knew Pierce had to go in I was confident in every aspect that he would be the guy that could help our team have success and the back bone we needed to try and obtain our goals. He has good character, is a nice respectful person who works hard and I am confident Pierce will return hungry and wanting to excel even more on his performance last season.