The Fort Frances Jr. Sabres can handle adversity.
They proved that with a 7-2 win over the red-hot Dryden Ice Dogs last night at the Ice for Kids Arena.

Despite a short bench, including the absence of leading scorer Brendan Baumgartner, the Sabres rolled over their SIJHL rivals in convincing fashion to snap a two-game losing skid.
The Ice Dogs (10-10-2) had won three-straight, and most odds-makers would have predicted this game to go the other way considering it looked like two teams going in opposite directions.
Sabres’ captain Chris Sinclair rose to the occasion, however, tallying two goals and adding two assists despite getting his bell rung on a high hit from Chris Balquiere in the second period.
As well, Ryan Witherspoon strung together a “Gordie Howe hat trick” over the final 10 minutes to pace the Sabres’ victory.
The Sabres improved to 12-8-1 with the win and now sit just two points behind the Thunder Bay Bearcats and Schreiber Diesels for second place. They also have one game in hand on the Diesels.
Dryden actually led 2-1 midway through the game on goals by Chad Liley and Darren Turner, but the Sabres got the equalizer off a point shot by Rod Bouchard.
Kyle Turgeon actually made the play, racing down the ice and around the net before feeding a pass to Dan Usiski. His shot was stopped, but the clearing attempt went right to Bouchard, who fired the puck home.
The Sabres struck again before the end of the period on a power play when Mike Boese’s blast from the point ricocheted off the end boards to Gabe Capozzi, who found a hole from the goal line past Ice Dogs’ goalie Thomas Black for the eventual game-winner.
The Sabres carried that momentum into the third—getting an early power-play goal from Capozzi, followed by singles from Sinclair (his second of the game), Logan McDonell, and Witherspoon to close the rout.
The line of McDonell, Witherspoon, and Chad Reynolds was pressed into additional minutes and stepped up big—cycling down low, taking the body, and swarming the Ice Dogs’ goal.
Witherspoon swayed momentum further in the second with a big hit on Mark McDonald, then he dropped the gloves with Balquiere late in the third to avenge the hit on his captain earlier in the game.
Baumgartner was a scratch last night due to a hand injury he suffered on a late hit from the Bearcats’ Brad Pawlowski last Thursday.
He played through it in the weekend series with Fort William, but had it heavily bandaged this week and is all but written off for tomorrow night’s game here versus the Sioux Lookout Flyers.
In an interesting twist, former Sabres’ back-up goalie David Novak may suit up and play against his old team tomorrow night after being traded to Sioux Lookout earlier this week.
The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. at the Ice for Kids Arena.