SUPERIOR INTERNATIONAL JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
SIJHL COMMUNICATIONS
MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release: Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013
SIJHL leaders continue winning ways
THUNDER BAY, Ont. – The top two teams in Superior International Junior Hockey League standings continued their winning ways Tuesday as the front-running Minnesota Wilderness and second place Fort Frances Lakers both skated to victories.
MINNESOTA WILDERNESS 6 MINNESOTA IRON RANGERS 2 – This all Minnesota battle went the way of the Wilderness who picked up points for a 36th consecutive outing having gone 35-0-0-1 in that span while also extending a winning streak to 17 games with the triumph.
Jordan Shockley paced the Wilderness offensively with a pair of tallies and one assist.
Mike Dietrich, with the SIJHL-leading sixth game-winning goal, Dylan Haskins, Ben Michaud and Nick Szopinski added singles.
Meanwhile Mike MacKinnon, Jake Larson and Jeremy Johnson both chipped in with two assists offensively to aid the offensive cause.
Scoring for the Iron Rangers were Joey Haydock and Riley Daly.
Shots on goal favoured the Wilderness by a 30-29 margin with JoJo Jeanetta picking up the win and Chase Hollander suffering the loss.
FORT FRANCES LAKERS 5 DRYDEN ICE DOGS 4 – The hometown Lakers picked up the two points for an eighth straight game thanks to Owen Stauber’s late game-winner.
Each side found the back of the net once in the opening period with Chris Belhumeur striking for Dryden and Colton Spicer countering for Fort Frances.
The Lakers then grabbed a 3-2 cushion after 40 minutes with efforts from Jordan Christianson and Merritt Rysavy while Len Pelletier added one for the Ice Dogs.
After Rory Court leveled the proceedings a minute into the third period with the Ice Dog’s third power play marker of the night, Spicer connected for his second goal of the game 55 seconds later to put the Fort back on top.
Dryden’s Tyson Holder tied things up midway through the final stanza only to see Stauber bury the game-winner with 2:44 to go as he connected during a two-man advantage for his fourth tally of the season.
Spicer also set-up two tallies for a four-point night while teammates Christianson and Rysavy both dished out three assists for the Lakers on the night with Auston Lewis adding a pair of helpers for the Ice Dogs.
Talor Joseph won for an eighth straight time since joining the club last month finishing up making 23 stops.
Eric Szymczyk faced 43 shots in a losing cause for the Ice Dogs.
SIJHL action resumes Wednesday on two fronts as the Wilderness host the Lakers at Northwoods Credit Union Arena in Cloquet, which features a 7 p.m. start as the two sides both put their respective winning streaks on the line.
Meanwhile the league’s other contest has the Ice Dogs welcoming the Thunder Bay North Stars to Dryden Memorial Arena with face-off there set for 7:30 p.m.