NEWS

(pictured - Led by captain Tyler Enns, the Toronto Lakeshore Patriots shake hands with the SIJHL Champion Fort Frances Lakers following a 6-0 victory in the Dudley Hewitt Cup semi-final - photo credit: Tim Bates/OJHL Images)

Story by Jamie Neugenbauer - Toronto Lakeshore Patriots

Niko Kovachis led the way with two goals and an assist and Evan Buitenhuis earned the shutout as the Toronto Patriots pounded the Fort Frances Lakers 6-0 Friday and claimed their spot in the Dudley Hewitt Cup final on Saturday.

Kevin Shier also had a three-point night while Nathan Feric and Robert Powers also added multi-point efforts as the Pats scored four times in the first and never left the result in doubt.

Toronto bench boss Jason Fortier was very content with his club’s effort post-game.

“I thought we just played smart,” he said.

“We came out and pressured when we needed to, backed off in the right situations, and played a lot better of an angle game. I thought our shots had a purpose today, when we shot the puck we went hard, we were going to the upper half of the net and he had traffic in front today. When you have traffic in front and the shots are going through, you are going to have success.”

Kovachis opened the scoring 3:31 into the first period when his screened point shot beat Lakers’ net minder Jordan Cartney.

Powers doubled the lead with an accurate wrist shot off a well-worked power play at the 11:35 mark.

Feric made it three by converting a pretty short-handed passing play with Doug Bonar just over four minutes later, and then Kovachis converted again when his point shot careened in off a Fort Frances player.

Shier continued the rout at 12:38 of the second period when he received a poor turnover by a Lakers’ defender and wired it past Devin Tappenden, who had come in to replace Cartney to start the frame.

Tyler Currie’s perfectly placed blast from the point with the man advantage with less than four minutes remaining in regulation put Fort Frances out of their misery.

Buitenhuis was sharp when called upon and bounced back from a difficult outing on Thursday evening.

“I thought Boots really played very controlled, very composed,” said Fortier, “and I think he was really focused on what he had to do after what happened yesterday. He stayed grounded, stayed on the level and also the way the team came out, worked together and protected him. He did a good job of pushing shots to the outside.”

The victory sets up a rematch with the host Wellington Dukes, a club that Coach Fortier felt played a dirty game in the final contest of the round robin.

“Yesterday we felt it was a bit disrespectful the way that Wellington treated us,” he said.

“We have some things to play for tomorrow other than just pride and a championship and I think we’re going to be raring to go and hopefully we can follow through in the big one tomorrow.”

Player of the Game for the Patriots was rearguard Niko Kovachis, while Cody Wickstrom took home the honours for the Lakers.

For the full game summary, please CLICK HERE.

The 2014 Dudley Hewitt Cup Championship Game will take place on Saturday night (May 3) with puck drop scheduled for 7:30pm.  Tickets remain available at the Duke Dome or if you can't be there live, you can watch the game at www.fasthockey.com.