DRYDEN, Ont. – A couple of fortuitous bounces went the way of the Dryden GM Ice Dogs as they pulled out a narrow 3-2 triumph over the Fort Frances Lakers in Superior International Junior Hockey League action Sunday evening at Memorial Arena.
Going to the power play midway through the first frame, Fort Frances opened the scoring off a give-and-go in the neutral zone that resulted in Tyler Malpass getting the puck over to Stone Stelzl, who snapped in his seventh of the season off the right wing past Dryden starter Jacob Anthony.
Up a skater themselves early in the second frame, the GM Ice Dogs collected the tying tally off the stick of Xavier Halterman, who banked one in off a Lakers’ defender to knot the affair at 1-1.
It stayed tied at one deep into the third, where Dylan Winsor drove along the end boards behind the Fort Frances net and worked his way in front where he shovelled the puck towards the goal where it clipped off a body and trickled across the goal line with 2:08 to go.
Malcolm Huemmert put one into an open net with 11 seconds remaining for Dryden and it turns out they would need it as the Lakers’ Michael Chapman rushed in right off the draw and fired a shot that beat Anthony before time ran out to finish things off with the hosts prevailing 3-2.
Earning the win was Anthony while Alex Bugeja suffered the close defeat.
Photo credit: Kerri-Ann Kanceruk