SUPERIOR INTERNATIONAL JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
SIJHL MEDIA UPDATE
Release Date: Tuesday, March 21, 2017
SIJHL playoff preview: Thief River Falls Norskies vs. Fort Frances Lakers
THUNDER BAY, Ont. – The 2017 Superior International Junior Hockey League playoffs begin tonight at 7:30 p.m. CT in Thief River Falls, Minn., as the hometown Norskies host the Fort Frances Lakers in Game 1 of their best-of-five quarter-final play-in series at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
The following is a preview of this first round match-up:
STANDINGS: The first-year Norskies finished fourth overall in the SIJHL regular season standings with a more than respectable 30-21-2-3 record.
That was good enough for 65 points, which was 10 better than the fifth overall Lakers.
Fort Frances ended up 24-25-3-4.
The Lakers are however the three-time defending Bill Salonen Cup SIJHL champions.
HEAD-TO-HEAD: Thief River Falls and Fort Frances met 11 times during the course of the regular season with the Lakers taking the season-set by winning six times while the Norskies prevailed in five, including recording their first-ever franchise victory back on the opening night of the 2016-17 campaign at Ice for Kids Arena.
NORSKIES’ NUMBERS: Pacing the Norskies in offensive production during the regular season was Keaton Huot.
The 20-year-old Thief River Falls native amassed a team-best 67 points on 22 goals and 45 assists. His totals tied him for seventh in the league.
Michael Johnson was next on the squad with 50 points, including 21 tallies.
Rookie Connor Smith led the club in goals with 24 while Dalton Johnson was their leading point getter among defencemen with 28.
SIJHL top goaltender award nominee Ryan Buttazzoni won 20 games for the Norskies in 2016-17, which was just two off the league lead. He also made the second-most appearances among SIJHL netminders at 40, finishing with a 3.26 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage.
Thief River Falls was third in the league in goals scored with 219 and fifth in markers allowed at 205.
The Norskies were sixth in the league while on the power play at 16.3% and fifth on the penalty kill at 79.5%.
LAKERS’ STATS: Leading the Lakers in scoring was league most valuable player nominee Jared Virtanen.
Despite missing a dozen games, the 20-year-old from Abbotsford, B.C., finished fourth in SIJHL scoring with 74 points on 22 tallies and a league-best 52 assists. He boasted the second highest point-per-game average in the SIJHL at 1.68.
Teammate Dylan Kooner was next on the squad in points with 68, which was the sixth highest total in the league.
Kooner was also third overall in goals with 37 and the Fort Frances captain was earlier named the SIJHL’s most sportsmanlike player for 2016-17.
Topping the team in points, among blueliners, were defencemen Maverick Lynes and Ryan Gazich who supplied 34 and 31 respectively.
Brandon Bodnar saw the bulk of the action between the pipes for the Lakers seeing nearly 1,640 minutes of playing time. His 3.08 goals-against average tied him for fourth overall in the league and he was fourth by himself in save percentage at .912.
Fort Frances finished fifth in goals scored with 188 and fourth in those given up at 201.
Special teams saw the Lakers sit second in power play proficiency at 20.3% during the regular season and fourth on the P.K. at 80%.
THE COACHES: Guiding the team’s fortunes behind their respective benches are Wayne Strachan and Cole Workman.
Strachan has coached Fort Frances to three consecutive Bill Salonen Cup titles and has won a league-record five SIJHL coach of the year honours.
Workman, like his team in Thief River Falls, is in their first year in the SIJHL.
RECORD NUMBERS: The first-year Norskies have already twice broken the league’s single-game attendance record this season.
They first accomplished the feat back on Feb. 11 when 3,011 fans flocked to The Ralph to see Thief River Falls defeat the Thunder Bay North Stars 6-1.
Two weeks later they surpassed that total when they drew 3,045 spectators to a Feb. 24 contest against Fort Frances on a night where they skated to a 4-1 triumph.
The Lakers was also part of a sold out gathering of 2,050 on Feb. 18 as they rallied to upend the English River Miners 5-3 in a neutral site affair that was part of the Hockey Day in Canada celebrations in Kenora, Ont.
OVERTIME: Should any SIJHL playoff contest go to overtime, the ice will be resurfaced after regulation during a 12-minute intermission and entering OT the opposing teams will switch ends and play a five-on-five, if at even strength, 20-minute sudden victory period.
If the game is still tied after the first OT, the same ice resurfacing and 20-minute period format will continue until a winner is decided.
There will be no shootouts in any SIJHL postseason games.
WHAT’S NEXT: The winner of the series will take on the regular season winner and No. 1 seeded Dryden GM Ice Dogs in a best-of-seven league semifinal.
Whoever prevails in that series will take on the side that comes out on top in the other league semifinal, between the Thunder Bay North Stars and English River Miners, for the Bill Salonen Cup SIJHL championship.
The league winner will then advance to the Dudley-Hewitt Cup Central Canada Jr. ‘A’ championship, May 2-6, in Trenton, Ont.
LIVE STREAMING: All SIJHL playoff games will be streamed live online, on a pay-per-view basis, at HockeyTV.com.
SIJHL quarter-final
No. 4 Thief River Falls Norskies vs. No. 5 Fort Frances Lakers
Best-of-five series
Game 1: Tuesday, March 21 @ Thief River Falls 7:30 p.m. (Ralph Engelstad Arena)
Game 2: Wednesday, March 22 @ Thief River Falls 7:30 p.m. (Ralph Engelstad Arena)
Game 3: Friday, March 24 @ Fort Frances 7:30 p.m. (Ice for Kids Arena)
Game 4*: Saturday, March 25 @ Fort Frances 7:30 p.m. (Ice for Kids Arena)
Game 5*: Monday, March 27 @ Thief River Falls 7:30 p.m. (Ralph Engelstad Arena)
*-if necessary