Menu

Fort Frances Lakers

fort-frances-lakers-sweater-2016

SIJHL season kicks off, Lakers host Ice Dogs tonight

, ,

The Fort Frances Lakers kicked off the SIJHL regular season Friday night with a convincing 7-1 win over the Red Lake Miners. The Lakers got goals from seven different skaters while Brady Cates stopped 25 shots in net for the win. Austin Cooper with a goal and an assist was named the games first star. In the only other game last night the Thunder Bay North Stars dropped a 4-1 decision to the Ironwood Lumberjacks.

The Lakers will face a tougher test tonight when they host the Dryden GM Ice Dogs at 7:15p.m.

Ice Dogs Preview

The Dryden GM Ice Dogs were a shot away from forcing Game Seven in the Bill Salonen Cup Finals against the Kam River Fighting Walleye.

Head Coach and General Manager Jake Gushue looks at the setback last season as positive and negative.

“We were really happy with all the success that we had last season. We had a really good year and a lot of fun,” Gushue noted. “But obviously, there’s a sour taste in our mouth, right? We were right there; it was a really close series. Our goal is to get back to the finals and we have the belief that we’re going to do that this year and not miss this time around.”

The season came to an end in Oliver Paipoonge on April 29th when Fighting Walleye forward Jett Mintenko wrapped up the league championship in overtime in Game Six.

Seven players from last year’s squad graduated while the returnees include Forwards Elias Eisenbarth, Payton Hu, Kelby Diehl and Griffin McGraw along with Defencemen Carter Goreniuk, Tegan Kerr, Reidar Paquette and Nicholas McCallen.

Gushue’s message to his returnees is bigger and better than last year.

“The guys have put in a ton of work in the off season. That sour taste in their mouths will fuel them, especially at the start of the year where we’re going to hit the ground running,” said Gushue. “There are a lot of things that we learned from last year (the successes and failures). We’re going to be way better set up for this season, and our guys are up for the challenge.”

Some of the new guys on the Ice Dogs include 20-year-old defenceman Carter Welke from Edmonton. Fellow defenceman Jacob Bernardo from Victoria already has over 130 games in Junior ‘A’ and will be entering his 19-year-old season. The team also added Quebec born forward Adrian Mendoza.

The Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL) is celebrating its 25th Anniversary in 2025-2026. Similarly, the Dryden GM Ice Dogs will commemorate their 25th year as the league’s oldest and most decorated franchise.

Gushue has worked his way up the organization and is proud to lead the Ice Dogs as Head Coach and General Manager.

“We’re hoping to show with our work ethic, and how we handle ourselves every day in the community and on the ice,” said Gushue. “It means the world to us, thinking of all of the time and support that we’ve been given from the City of Dryden. For us to be a part of the anniversary season, it’s a huge honour and privilege, and I know we’re going to live up to the expectations this year.”

“Our guys have been chomping at the bit here to begin the season. We have high expectations of the club, and I know our club’s ready for the challenge and ready to battle every single night.

The Ice Dogs have won four Bill Salonen Cup Championships, capturing their last one in 2018.

fort-frances-lakers

New but familiar face behind the Lakers bench

,

Luke Judson will be wearing a pair of different hats with the Fort Frances Lakers.

Following the resignation of Tyler Miller in early April, the General Manager was named the Head Coach in a matter of weeks.

“I am still learning every day, but I’m enjoying the challenge. I learned a lot working with Tyler, and I am lucky to have a great staff around me,” said Judson.

Judson was the GM and the Assistant Coach with the Lakers last season and has coached across the region with the Fort Frances Minor Hockey Association’s AA program.

“We have made it a priority to develop our local talent, and we’re excited to see hockey thrive in Fort Frances again,” Judson added. “We have six local players on our roster, as well as a handful of others playing high level U18 that will hopefully be Lakers soon.”

“In the past 3 years, we have hosted several hockey camps, coaching players from U7 all the way up to college and professional players. We have added a Junior Lakers AAA Spring hockey program with over 10 teams, and we have coached both Fort Frances and Emo Minor Hockey ‘development days’ throughout the season.”

The Lakers finished the regular season with a 20-21-7-2 record in 50 games, which was one of their highest win totals since the 2019/2020 season when they captured 21 victories. Their season ended in Game Seven at Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay with a 4-0 loss to the North Stars.

“From the coaching staff to the players, I don’t think any of us thought that we put our best foot forward in Game 7 vs the North Stars last season,” Judson reflected. “Knowing how far we came last season and the progress we’ve made, our players understand its time to take the next step.”

The Lakers lost eight players due to graduation. Judson did note that the roster will be split between returnees and newcomers.

“Brady Cates is a standout 17-year-old goalie from Emo, who has stood on his head playing in Kenora and Thunder Bay, and will be in a great situation to thrive in Fort Frances. We are lucky to have him here, as he likely deserved an opportunity at a higher level,” said Judson.

Judson also highlights another player from Emo Dax Laplante, adding “You need to be an exceptional player to play junior hockey at 16 years old. Dax is proving every day why he is getting that opportunity. He is consistently one of our hardest working players on and off the ice and is someone we can challenge in a lot of different situations this season.”

Judson wants to continue to build what the group, which included Tyler Miller, started in 2022.

“Our rebrand, the Junior Lakers AAA program, hockey camps, our fundraising, social media, how we travel, how we eat, how we train, how we volunteer, and how we represent Fort Frances; these are all things we have planned months and years in advance, and we are just getting started. My goal for this team is to win.

UPCOMING GAME SCHEDULE

Friday September 19th vs. Red Lake Miners HOME OPENER
Saturday September 20th vs. Dryden GM Ice Dogs
Friday September 26th vs. Red Lake Miners
Sunday September 27th @ Kam River Fighting Walleye
Friday October 3rd vs. Thunder Bay North Stars
Tuesday October 7th @ Kam River Fighting Walleye
Friday October 10th @ Dryden GM Ice Dogs

humboldt

Remembering The Humboldt Broncos Bus Crash

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

April 6th, 2018, a day that changed the hockey world.

Wednesday marks the four year anniversary of a junior hockey team’s trip to a playoff game that ended in tragedy.

Sixteen members of the Humboldt Broncos of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) were killed, thirteen injured when the northbound coach bus struck a westbound semi-trailer truck near Armley, Saskatchewan.

The semi-trailer was travelling at a speed of approximately 100 km/h.

Ten players, two coaches, a statistician, radio announcer, athletic trainer, and bus driver were killed.

Submitted photo of the tribute involving the SIJHL’s Thief River Falls Norskies and Thunder Bay North Stars (Mike Tallari)

Kam River Fighting Walleye (SIJHL) defenceman Kersey Reich is from Estevan and was taking part in a Fall Camp for Midget ‘AAA’ Hockey.

“Immediately the tone around everything was different,” Reich remembered. “Lots of (my teammates) had friends on the bus and it really affected the whole hockey world. It was a tragedy for sure, especially to happen in my home province.”

Reich also had a specific friend on the bus, who unfortunately passed away in the crash.

“That obviously affected me personally,” Reich noted. “It really put things in perspective as to how lucky we all are to play junior hockey and do things together as a team, like ride a bus.”

The 29-year-old driver of the semi Jaskirat Singh Sidhu pled guilty to sixteen counts of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death and 13 counts of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing bodily injury.

He was sentenced to 8 years in prison and is still fighting to stay in Canada.

The crash happened just 22 minutes outside of the final destination in Armley, Saskatchewan.

Randy MacLEAN, who was the Vice President for the team at the time recalls the outpouring of support, “A tragedy, while at the same time we witnessed the amazing things that happen when people and communities and the nation pull together to support each other in a crisis situation.”

He added, “The giving and humanity and the compassion, empathy of our fellow citizens within Humboldt, the province of Saskatchewan, the country of Canada and all over the world was something that was an honour to be a part of, an honour to support and an honour to work through such a horrific event,”

The club played their first home game of the 2018–19 season on September 12th against the Nipawin Hawks.

With files from Kevin Jeffrey and Tara Clow.

new-sijhl-logo-scaled-1

Centennial Cup Changing Formats This Year

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Whoever wins the Bill Salonen Cup will book a trip to Estevan, Saskatchewan.

The Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL), in conjunction with Hockey Canada and the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL), announced a revised format for the 2022 Centennial Cup.

The tournament will begin May 19th and will feature the host Bruins (SJHL), as well as all nine champions of the other leagues.

As a result, traditional CJHL regional championships – including the Dudley-Hewitt Cup, previously scheduled to be hosted by the Red Lake Miners – will not be contested this season.

“We just weren’t sure what the traditional format would look like in this environment,” said SIJHL Commissioner Darrin Nicholas. “With leagues giving indications they weren’t going to be able to participate in regionals this season as a result of the delays in completing their schedules, the CJHL board recognized it needed to find a way to relieve some pressure and uncertainty from the host committees.”

As of now, there is no plan for a 10-team national championship beyond this year, and Red Lake would have the first right-of-refusal to host a rescheduled Dudley-Hewitt Cup in May of 2023.

north-stars-goalie-web

Superior League Hopes To Resume In February

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The local Junior ‘A’ hockey league remains optimistic that they’ll be back on the ice next month.

The province will enter a stay at home order on Thursday morning. In addition to the lockdown announcement on January 7th, Northern Ontario will remain in Code Grey until at least January 23rd. That means hockey facilities are closed and all Hockey Northwestern Ontario programming is paused.

Commissioner Darrin Nicholas says right now the plan is to have the players stay put.

“My vision would be that we keep the players in the community and find a way on a local level to keep them engaged in the season. That way we don’t have to go through [the quarantine process] again,” says Nicholas. “For instance if the restrictions are lifted on February 11th, we can get the players on the ice for a few days and we could be playing games as quickly as February 14th or 15th.”

The Commissioner admits the idea of bubbling up all of the teams in a central location has been floated if and when they get the green light to resume the season.

“If we only have a short window to play games, maybe we can put together two or three showcase events back to back with three games in a day,” adds Nicholas. “Any and all options remain on the table. If there’s a way to give some meaningful hockey to the league and to our players we’ll be committed for that.”

waynes-1-1

Fort Frances Looking For New Coach/GM

,

The long time face of the Fort Frances Lakers is leaving the organization.

Wayne Strachan has stepped down to take on another job outside of hockey.

He has been the head coach of the Lakers since the 2010-2011 season but was with the original Fort Frances Superior International Junior Hockey League squad since the league inception in 2001.

Strachan guided Fort Frances to four league championships and four central Canadian Junior Hockey championships.

The Lakers made the Dudley Hewitt Cup Final as the host team in 2015 losing 3-2 to the Soo Thunderbirds.

The organization is now accepting applications until August 21st.

thumbnail_WayneStrachan-GaryCookMemorialAward-1

Major Award For Wayne Strachan

, ,

Fort Frances Lakers head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan has received the prestigious Gary Cook Memorial Award in the Superior International Junior Hockey League.

The honour is presented annually to an individual in recognition of their efforts, commitment and contributions to the league.

Strachan is the winningest coach in league history and has received a record-five Coach of the Year awards.

He has led Fort Frances to multiple league finals, three Bill Salonen Cup championships along with numerous Dudley-Hewitt Cup appearances.

Commissioner Bryan Graham says “Wayne Strachan has been one of the leading figures in the SIJHL since its inception and not many are more deserving of this award. His commitment to the Fort Frances program for nearly two decades has been a vital cog to the club’s success throughout the years.”

Here are the previous winners of the Gary Cook Memorial Award
2019-20: Wayne Strachan, Fort Frances Lakers
2018-19: Tom Annelin, SIJHL Director of Communications
2017-18: Eric Vastamaki, SIJHL Referee
2016-17: Doug Colbon, Thunder Bay North Stars
2015-16: Milt Strachan, Fort Frances Lakers
2014-15: Ron Whitehead, Former SIJHL President/Commissioner
2013-14: Mike Ebbeling, CKDR Radio Dryden
2012-13: Trevor Hosanna, Hockey Northwestern Ontario
2011-12: Malcolm Robertson, Dryden Ice Dogs
2010-11: Rod Aldoff, Wisconsin Wilderness
2009-10: Ted Lake, Dryden Ice Dogs
2008-09: Doug Lawrance, Sioux Lookout Flyers
2007-08: Carolyn/Scott Kellaway, Fort Frances Jr. Sabres

 

thumbnail_NoahLoveday-MIP-1

Noah Loveday Most Improved Player In SIJHL

, ,

Fort Frances Lakers captain Noah Loveday has been named Most Improved Player for the 2019-2020 season in the Superior International Junior Hockey League.

The 20-year-old forward produced 17 goals and 21 assists in 48 games with the Lakers this campaign.

That marked a 17-point improvement over last year.

Loveday set personal single-season bests in tallies, helpers and points.

He was also tied for fourth in the league in game-winning goals with five.

Loveday beat out Xavier Halterman of the Dryden GM Ice Dogs and Nick Harder of the Thief River Falls Norskies.

Loveday becomes the fourth player in Lakers history to win the award.

Other recipients:
-Miles Nolan (2014-2015)
-Mason Meyer (2013-2014)
-Colton Spicer (2012-2013)

(Photo Credit: Tim Benton)

 

Load More