The Kam River Fighting Walleye were looking for the weekend sweep, while the Fort Frances Lakers were determined to come away from Oliver Paipoonge with a split.
Kam River started off the game on fire, scoring 2 goals in the first 3 minutes of action. First, Cayleb Gustave turned on the burners for a breakaway goal, and just 40 seconds later, Carter Poddubny scored on the powerplay off a nice between the legs pass from Eron Mitchell. Fort Frances battled back and got on the board midway through the opening period, Ayden MacKay potting his 2nd of the year to cut the lead to 1.
The 2nd period was all Lakers. After Noah Hudson tied the game at the 4:36 mark of the frame, Carter Peters scored his 5th of the year on the powerplay and the Lakers took a 3-2 lead. The Walleye only mustered 2 shots on goal in the middle stanza.
Despite the Walleye’s renewed energy to start the 3rd, it was the Lakers who struck first in the period. Ayden MacKay scored his 2nd of the game just 2:26 in and the visitors were up by a 4-2 score. Kam River kept battling, and for the 2nd straight night, they would erase a 3rd period deficit and take the lead. Thomas Beaton started the comeback 5 minutes into the final frame, taking a nice pass from the point by Eric Gawley and directing it into the net. Then DeAntwan Kupsch-Hamilton scored his 2nd of the season on the powerplay, to tie the game, a rebound off of a Carter Poddubny net-drive and shot. Beaton sniped the go-ahead goal with less than 5 minutes to play, finishing off an Eron Mitchell pass off an odd-man rush. The home side looked to be on their way to the 2 points, but a Lynden Gould deflection on a late-game powerplay tied things up for the Lakers with just 17 seconds left on the clock.
The two teams played a spirited 3-on-3 overtime, but neither side could connect on the game-winner. Fort Frances took the extra point in the shootout with Tie Schumacher scoring the shootout winner.
