Dan Usiski, Jr. to play for Fort Frances Sabres

By Mitch Calvert
Fort Frances Times

The Fort Frances Jr. Sabres wrapped up their final training camp Sunday, with four more players getting signed—along with the 15 returning and new players signed before camp began.
Dan Usiski, Taylor Jorgenson, Patrick Bobczynski and Shawn Fulton all impressed enough to get brought on for the 2008-09 season—and coach Wayne Strachan has high hopes based on what he saw this weekend.
“I was very pleased with camp,” Strachan wrote in an e-mail response after completing player meetings.
“Most of the players came in great shape and worked hard over the summer. This showed in our off ice testing,” he added. “On the ice, the intensity was high and a lot of players made good showings. White ended up winning all the games but many players on the Black Team showed they could play and want to be a part of the team.”
Usiski followed up his strong rookie camp performance with an even better showing at the main camp, scoring somewhere between seven or eight goals while providing a strong, physical presence.
“He has come back to the team on a mission it seems,” coach Strachan said.
“He is the power forward we have been looking for now for two years,” he added. “I hope he only gets better as the year goes on.”
Saturday’s game featured a full set of referees, flooding between periods, and plenty of back-and-forth action on the ice.
Team White broke the goose egg in the first when Zach McCool parlayed a nifty centering pass from Taylor Jorgenson and one-timed it in. Dan Usiski would increase the margin for Team White with a similarly impressive effort, finishing off a nice backhand pass from Brendan Baumgartner. Team Black would get that one back 30 seconds later, though, as Ryan Widmar would score to make it 2-1 going into the intermission.
But not to be discouraged, Team White would sway the momentum back in their favour in the second.
Adam Wensley would convert on a slick deke to his backhand just over three minutes into the period to make it 3-1. Team Black would get a two-man advantage shortly after that, but couldn’t convert, giving Team White even more of a lift on offence.
Eleven minutes into the period, Jon Sinclair would pick up his own rebound and slide it into the open cage to make it 4-1 for Team White and then a scrambled play just over four minutes later would result in Sinclair scoring his second of the period to extend the gap to 5-1 going to the third.
Team White would pick up where they left off, as just 19 seconds in Usiski would convert on Baumgartner’s rebound to make it 6-1, and that margin appeared to be insurmountable with less than a period to play.
But the combination of Chris Sinclair and Dan Smith, which was held off the scoresheet through two periods, would have something to say about that for Team Black. Smith would get the ball rolling with a shot from just inside the right point that found its way through a bunch of traffic in front and past goaltender Wade Friesen to make it 6-2, and then Sinclair would make a great curl-and-drag move at his own blueline before sending Smith in alone to make it 6-3 just 22 seconds later.
Then just 1:07 after that, defenceman Cody McCool would bank a pass off the boards sending Gabe Capozzi in alone, and he would deke to his backhand in sliding one past Friesen to score Team Black’s third consecutive goal.
But they weren’t done there, as two minutes later Graham Dyck would narrow the deficit to one before the improbable comeback would become a reality when Sinclair would score a bit of a fluke goal on the next shift to tie the game at 6-6. That would spell the end of Friesen’s night in net, as Team White went back to starter David Novak to finish the game.
Team Black’s strong push in the third would go for naught though, as enforcer Logan McDonell would be awarded a penalty shot with just 1:36 left on the clock. The fighter would show his hands are for more than just punching, making a quick move to his backhand to score the deciding goal of the game. Kyle Turgeon would pot an empty-netter shortly after to put the game officially on ice.
“We like the combo of Sinclair and Smith,” Strachan noted.
“They seemed to gel well in rookie camp and continued it through [the] main camp. Right now we have a vision of them and Alessio Tomassetti on a line,” he added. “Dan was a player that we brought on for his size and speed to help our smaller skilled guys out and he so far has lived up to all his expectations. ‘Sink’ is an exciting player to watch and has great skill as an offensive player.”
A good number of younger locals certainly made an impression—but Strachan said some of them need to come along physically to survive a full season in the SIJHL.
“We have a fair amount of local players still vying for a spot on the team,” Strachan noted.
“But a lot of them have to get stronger and more physical to play at the junior level,” he stressed. “It would benefit a lot of the younger players to play another year of hockey with their respective teams and [become an affiliated player] with our team with the possibility of getting some junior experience throughout the year [pending injuries].”
The Sabres open their pre-season schedule on Sept. 3 against the visiting Wisconsin Mustangs of the Minnesota Junior Hockey League at 7:30 p.m.