A goal by Falls High School graduate Jordan Christianson 3:58 into overtime gave the Fort Frances Lakers a 3-2 victory Tuesday evening in game seven of their Superior International Junior Hockey League semifinal series against the Dryden Ice Dogs at Ice for Kids Arena.
With the win, the Lakers take the best-of-seven series 4-3 and will now meet the Minnesota Wilderness in the SIJHL finals and play for the Bill Salonen Cup league championship.
In Tuesday’s deciding semifinal game, Dryden opened the scoring on the power play late in the opening period when Mike Butler beat Fort Frances goalie Talor Joseph at 18:14.
Following the scoreless second period, the visiting Ice Dogs made it 2-0 5:02 into the third period when Chris Belhumeur scored assisted by Tyson Holder and Austin Lewis, who picked up his second assist of the night.
The Lakers finally put the puck past Dryden goalie Eric Szymczyk with 3:22 remaining in regulation when Jon Carlson scored during the late stages of a Fort Frances power-play opportunity.
Carlson scored again to tie the game with just 15.4 seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime.
That set the stage for the dramatic conclusion to the series with Christianson scoring the game-winner and sending Fort Frances to the SIJHL finals for the second-consecutive season.
The 2013 SIJHL best-of-seven finals will alternate home games with the top-seeded Wilderness hosting games one, three and, if necessary, five and seven at Northwoods Credit Union Arena in Cloquet on April 12, 17, 20 and 24.
The Lakers will host games two, four and, if required, six at Ice for Kids Arena in Fort Frances on April 14, 19 and 22.
All seven games of the finals have a 7:30 p.m. start time.
The SIJHL champion will earn the right to compete at the Dudley-Hewitt Cup Central Canada Junior A tournament in North Bay, April 30-May 4.
