Well last night’s opening SIJHL game saw our Fort Frances Lakers take on the Thunder Bay North Stars. The opening period saw the Lakers hit the ice with confidence, swagger, speed and skill. The Lakers were absolutely flying scoring 3 goals in the first 10 minutes. Lucas Debenedet opened the scoring for the Lakers just under a minute into the game. Kevin Kurm and Tanner Fricke picked up assists on a nifty little play by the talented rookie. Debenedet showed his speed and soft hands slipping in front of Thunder Bay’s netminder Eric Mann with a quick deke tucking the puck past him into the net.
Just a little over 4 minutes later Kevin Kurm teamed up with Debenedet and Mason Meyer to put the Lakers up by 2. Meyer wasn’t finished there as he buried the puck at 9:43 of the first after taking a pass from Kevin Kurm and Lucas Debenedet. It seemed all Lakers at this point and they went into the dressing room with a comfortable 3 goal lead.
The start of the second period things started to turn. The North Stars came out hard taking the body and skating hard winning many of the battles to the puck. The North Stars seemed to have put things into another gear. You could clearly see the Lakers starting to get frustrated and the play started to get chippy and the more it went on the more it seemed to favour the visiting team. The second period was filled with penalties on both sides and the only goal went to Thunder Bay’s Taylor Santorelli at 15:42 from Matthias Gardiman.
The third period both teams seemed to settle down, but the Lakers found their lead once again shrink away as the North Stars Cary Brown scored an unassisted goal 1:45 into the period. The Lakers managed to maintain a 3-2 lead until they once they again found themselves in penalty trouble. 7:56 into the 3rd period Thunder Bay’s Cary Brown made the Lakers pay while taking a pass on the power play from Jesse Taylor and Matthias Gardiman and depositing it past Laker goalie Jordan Cartney notting up the game at 3.
The North Stars then took their first lead and the eventual game winning goal again on the power play. Taylor Santorelli scored his second of the game and the winner at the 11:12 mark of the final stanza.
The Lakers had plenty of opportunity in the remainder of the third going on the power play themselves again before the end of the game. Even a short 5-3, but were unable to get the offense going.
Thunder Bays Eric Mann was solid in net in the second and third period, stopping 23 of 26 shots picking up the win for the Stars.
The Lakers Jordan Cartney saw 38 shots managing to stop 34 of them for the loss. Cartney played an extremely strong game in net for the Lakers in his debut. He looked comfortable and well positioned throughout most of the game. The Lakers had a few defensive issues and found themselves in penalty trouble in the second and third that cost them the win.
The Lakers are on the ice again Saturday September 21 to face the SIJHL’s newest franchise the English River Miners. The puck drops at 7:30 at the IFK arena. Come out and support your Lakers and get a first hand look at the SIJHL’s newest franchise, The English River Miners.