SUPERIOR INTERNATIONAL JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
SIJHL COMMUNICATIONS
MEDIA RELEASE
Release Date: Friday, Dec. 13, 2013
Friday winners include Minnesota, Fort Frances and Dryden
THUNDER BAY, Ont. – A trio of Superior International Junior Hockey League contests staged Friday saw the Minnesota Iron Rangers upend the Thunder Bay North Stars, the Fort Frances Lakers needing overtime to edge the English River Miners while the Dryden Ice Dogs scored late to slip past the Wisconsin Wilderness.
MINNESOTA IRON RANGERS 4 THUNDER BAY NORTH STARS 1 – The visiting Iron Rangers defeated the North Stars for the fourth straight outing as they skated to the triumph in the Lakehead.
Thunder Bay opened the scoring 13:26 into the contest as Kenny Turner beat Minnesota starter Erick Majerle.
Sam Mancini pulled the Iron Rangers even before the first period was out finishing off the work of Evan Erickson and Eric Madison.
Minnesota took control in the middle session connecting three times in a 13-minute span to send them on their way to victory.
After Matt O’Dea made 2-1 a minute in a half into the second stanza, Jason Reynolds added another at 4:34.
Madison then notched the final goal of the evening 10 minutes later to finish things off offensively.
Shots on goal favoured the North Stars by a 33-30 margin with Majerle picking up the win and Nathanial Dupuis the loss.
FORT FRANCES LAKERS 4 ENGLISH RIVER MINERS 3 (OT) – Lyndon Lipinski’s second goal of the night, 3:01 into overtime, lifted the hometown Lakers past the Miners at Ice for Kids Arena.
Fort Frances snagged a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes getting tallies from Brent Aiken and Cody Wickstrom while Chris Hrabec countered for English River.
After a scoreless second stanza Lipinski then made it 3-1 Lakers at 8:38 of the third the Miners rallied to force extra time getting efforts from John Morales and Bryson Jasper 27 seconds apart to level the proceedings.
With the shootout looming Fort Frances pulled it out thanks to Lipinski’s 15th goal of the season and fourth game-winner to end it.
Jordan Carney was the winning goaltender making 35 stops with P.D. Melgoza helping his side salvage a point on the night with his 39-save performance.
DRYDEN ICE DOGS 6 WISCONSIN WILDERNESS 5 – A Tim Kavanaugh tally with 5:42 remaining was the difference maker as the Ice Dogs edged the Wilderness in a closely contested match-up at the Spooner Ice House.
A wide-open first period saw Dryden take a 3-2 lead on markers from Zach Kercz, Dane Feeney and Jarrett Day with Austin Anderson and Sawyer Jacobsen countering for Wisconsin.
The second session then saw the Wilderness out score the Ice Dogs by one to level the proceedings at 4-4 after 40 minutes.
Billy Foy and Tanner Vinson found the back of the net for the home side while Chris Belhumeur connected for the visitors.
In the final frame Feeney’s second of the evening put Dryden back on top at 3:53 only to see Alex Rezansoff tie it once again with a man advantage effort with just over six minutes to go.
Feeney however came right back just 23 seconds after Wisconsin’s equalizer to register his fourth point of the night as he fed Kavanaugh with the difference maker.
The Wilderness held the edge in shots on goal by a 46-31 count with Terry Hughes picking up the win and Brendan Manquen the defeat.
SIJHL Competition resumes Saturday as Dryden visits Minnesota at 7 p.m. while welcomes English River at 7:30 p.m.