SUPERIOR INTERNATIONAL JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
SIJHL MEDIA UPDATE
Release Date: Wednesday, March 23, 2016
SIJHL quarter-final preview: Minnesota Iron Rangers vs. English River Miners
THUNDER BAY, Ont. – The Superior International Junior League playoffs commence Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. CT as the English River Miners entertain the Minnesota Iron Rangers in Game 1 of their best-of-five quarter-final series at Ear Falls Arena.
Minnesota will host Game 2 and 3 on Friday and Saturday at Hoyt Lakes Arena in a pair of 7 p.m. CT starts.
Should a fourth game be required it will go Monday at Cochenour Arena in Red Lake while, if necessary, the Iron Rangers will be the home team for a fifth and deciding contest next Wednesday. If needed those games would begin at 7 p.m. CT.
During the course of the regular season, the Iron Rangers and Miners met a total of 14 times.
Minnesota won the season series 10-4 with four of the games needing a shootout to determine a winner while 10 of the contests were decided by two goals or less. In their final four meetings, each side came away victorious twice.
During the course of the regular season, the Iron Rangers finished fourth in the SIJHL with a 21-31-2-2 record while English River was fifth at 12-37-3-2.
Leading Minnesota offensively was forward Jake Ellingson, who topped the club with 42 points in 51 outings, including a team-high 17 goals.
Defenceman Dalton Johnson was next with 37 points. In the 47 contests he saw action in, he tallied 10 times and doled out 27 helpers to finish fourth among all SIJHL blueliners in scoring.
Tristyn Sabina was third on the Iron Rangers in offensive numbers with 35 points as he notched 13 markers and set-up 22 others.
Pacing the Miners this season were a trio of 40-plus-point men in Ryker Moreau, Alex Matacic and Konnar Dechaine.
Moreau had 46 points in 52 contests as he scored 16 times and had a team-best 30 assists.
Of Maticic’s 44 points, 21 of them were goals, including nine on the power play.
Dechaine meanwhile led English River in goals with 23 to go along with 20 assists giving him 43 points in total.
Brandon Schaber was the Miners leading point getter among defencemen with 28, which included 10 markers.
In net the Iron Rangers duo of Anthony Pupplo and Kyle Carignan both saw action in 23 games and recorded nine wins apiece. Pupplo also had the club’s lone shutout this season, a 32-save performance vs. the Miners back on Jan. 21.
Reid Kilburn saw the bulk of the play between the pipes for English River in the regular season playing 40 times.
His 2,136 minutes played were the second most in the entire league and he had eight wins to his credit.
Kilburn’s was also second in the SIJHL in saves made with 1,163.
Goaltending partner Korlan Vader appeared in 27 contests and had a 4-14-0-2 record.
The winner of this series will take on the regular season-winning Fort Frances Lakers in a best-of-seven semifinal with the schedule for this still yet to be determined.
The other league semifinal match-up features the No. 2 Dryden GM Ice Dogs taking on the No. 3 Thunder Bay North Stars in another best-of-seven, which will get underway on April 2 at Dryden Memorial Arena.
All SIJHL playoff games are available online at FASTHockey.com.
SIJHL quarter-final schedule (Series A)
No. 4 Minnesota Iron Rangers vs. No. 5 English River Miners
Best-of-five series
Game 1: Wednesday, March 23 @ English River 7 p.m. (Ear Falls)
Game 2: Friday, March 25 @ Minnesota 7 p.m. (Hoyt Lakes)
Game 3: Saturday, March 26 @ Minnesota 7 p.m. (Hoyt Lakes)
Game 4*: Monday, March 28 @ English River 7 p.m. (Cochenour)
Game 5*: Wednesday, March 30 @ Minnesota (Hoyt Lakes)
*- if necessary