SIJHL Playoff Preview 2025 Semis
The SIJHL semi-finals launch Friday, April 4th. Here’s a quick preview of the match-ups. Many thanks to head coaches Jake Gushue (Dryden), Larry Wintoneak (Kam River), Rob DeGagne (Thunder Bay) and Lee Stone (Red Lake) for their timely insights.
Red Lake vs. Dryden
Dryden regular season snapshot: 1st place. 36-9-5 77 points. W/L Pct. .770.
GF 224 GA 136 Differential +88. PIM 1,067. Streak 0-1-0. Past 10 7-2-1.
PP% 27.0. PK% 81.5. SHGA 7. SHGF 10.
Top six offence:
Max Roby, F, GP 43, 29 G, 36 A, 65 Pts, 35 PIM. McLaren Paulsen, F, GP 35, 23 G, 36 A, 59 Pts, 30 PIM. Payton Hu, F, GP 44, 23 G, 34 A, 57 Pts, 54 PIM. Carson Devine, F, GP 45, 16 G, 39 A, 55 Pts, 57 PIM. Eli Antoine, F, GP 45, 24 G, 22 A, 46 Pts, 52 PIM. Rylan Oatman, F, GP 42, 15 G, 27 A, 42 Pts, 16 PIM.
Played 40-plus regular season games:
Evan Mayer, 42. Nicholas McCallen, 45.
Goaltending:
Kellan Mooney, GP 30, 20-4-1, GAA 2.42, SV% .927, 1,711 Min.
Noah Davis, GP 5, 3-2-0, GAA 3.73, SV% .890, 306 Min.
Head Coach Jake Gushue:
First round bye and the break in action.
“We’ll be ready to go. We’ve had some really good practices since we’ve had the break (last game March 15th). Boys have been really good. Pace has been incredibly high. Personally, I think we’ll be ready to go right from puck drop.”
There are no injuries or suspensions to report. The team is ready personnel-wise.
“We have a full roster going into game one.”
Thoughts on Red Lake. Dryden was 7-0-0 against the Miners this year with two overtime wins.
“Our whole team, especially the coaching staff, were watching the (playoff) games pretty heavily. Red Lake’s a very hard working team. They’re well structured. Very well coached. We have to respect them as our opponents. We’re not going to (rest on our laurels). We’re going to be aggressive, going at it right from puck drop as we always do. We have to play our game. They’re a very good team and their work ethic is quite impressive. . . It’s great we had regular season success. It means nothing. We’re taking it right from square zero.
“We’re happy with our success in the regular season. Everyone in the room, on staff, and in the organization know the job’s not finished. The job’s not finished until we win the Bill Salonen Cup.
“It’s going to be a really hard fought series against Red Lake. It’s going to be a fast hard-hitting series. It’s going to be good for the league. It’s going to showcase how good the SIJHL has become.”
Season series: Dryden 7-0-0. Red Lake 0-5-2.
Most recent: Mar 11. DRY 7 RLM 2.
Other six games: Oct 3rd DRY 3 RLM 2 at DRY. Oct 4th DRY 4 RLM 3 at RLM. Dec 21st DRY 5 at RLM 4 at RLM. Feb 7th DRY 5 at RLM 2. Feb 8th DRY 4 RLM 3 (OT) at RLM. Feb 27th DRY 4 RLM 3 (OT).
Red Lake playoff snapshot: 4W-3L vs SLB
GF 16 GA 22 Differential -6. PIM 103. Streak 1-0.
PP% 20.0. PK% 77.3. SHGA 0. SHGF 1.
Top six offense:
Nathan Dann, F, GP 7, 5 G, 2 A, 7 Pts, 0 PIM. Gabe Tanton, F, GP 7, 1 G, 5 A, 6 Pts, 2 PIM. Noah Tenney, F, GP 7, 4 G 1 A, 5 Pts, 2 PIM. *Quinn Szpak, F, GP 7, 3 G, 1 A, 4 Pts, 2 PIM. Foxx McColl, D, GP 7, 2 G, 2 A, 4 Pts, 8 PIM. Euan Morrison, F, GP 7, 0 G, 4 A, 4 Pts, 16 PIM.
Played all seven playoff games:
Kai Hughes, Bryson Carlyle, *Ryan Heuser, Matthew MacPherson, Justin Gelderland, *Bryant Linklater, *Jager Marshall, *Kayne Pawlick
Goaltending:
Nick Peters, GP 7, 4-3-0, GAA 2.98, SV% .928, 403 Min.
Koen Webber, GP 1, 0-0-0, GAA 3.00, SV% .917, 20 Min.
Coach Lee Stone:
No injuries to report. No lag time.
“The truth of it is when you go to war like that you want to take too many days off in between, because you kinda want the body to keep moving. Do I think there’s an advantage one way or the other? No. Their guys are going to be so excited to play in a hockey game. I know their 20-year-olds didn’t play in the last regular season game of the year. There’s no way those guys aren’t chomping at the bit to get rolling. At the same time, we have been rolling. We’ll roll right into game one and be ready to slow the juggernaut down.”
Prospects of winning.
“They’re an extremely talented team. There’s no question about it. They’re an incredibly gifted team offensively, they can score goals at will. Obviously Kellan Mooney wins goalie of the year, Jake Gushue wins coach of the year–up and down their line-up they are very, very, very talented. We have to be ready for that.
“At the end of the day, if we play our game we are confident against anybody. The reality of it is we play a playoff brand of hockey in my opinion. We’re very structured and we’re difficult to beat five-on-five if we play our game. Obviously we have to work on our special teams–especially our power play. It’s impossible not to coach what we just went through (OT game seven series win over Sioux Lookout) and not be proud of what we accomplished. We start back at square one. If we win this series we firmly believe it’ll be in the final five minutes of the third period. Every period we play, every game we play is building up towards that finals final moments.”
Two points out of a possible 14.
“You could ask some people, they’d think we don’t even belong in the same rink as them. But I have a funny feeling throughout the series that we’ll show we do. Five of those seven games were one-goal games. We’re playing our best hockey at this time of the year. I’ll reiterate they’re a very talented team. They’re very, very, very good.
“We know how incredibly talented Dryden is and how difficult it will be to beat them.”
Thunder Bay vs Kam River
Season series: Thunder Bay 4-4-0. Kam River 4-4-0.
Most recent: Feb 17th TBN 4 KRW 1 at KRW. Feb 28th KRW 4 TBN 1 at KRW.
Other six games: Oct 11th TBN 4 KRW 2 at TBN. Oct 12th TBN 4 KRW 0 at TBN. Dec 6th KRW 3 TBN 1 at TBN. Dec 7th KRW 6 TBN 3 at KRW. Jan 17th TBN 2 KRW 1 at TBN. Jan 18th KRW 4 TBN 1 at TBN.
TBN goals for/goals against: 20-21. KRW goals for/goals against 21-20.
Thunder Bay playoff snapshot: 4W-3L vs FFL
GF 26 GA 23 Differential 3. PIM 68. Streak 1-0.
PP% 25.9. PK% 88.0. SHGA 0. SHGF 0.
Top seven offence:
Tyler Jordan, F, GP 7, 7 G, 5 A, 12 Pts, 2 PIM. Tag Bryson, D, GP 7, 3 G, 7 A, 10 Pts, 8 PIM. *Chance Loke, D, GP 7, 3 G, 4 A, 7 Pts, 6 PIM. *Evan Simeoni, F, GP 7, 1 G, 6 A, 7 Pts, 4 PIM. Connor Larrett, F, GP 6, 2 G, 4 A, 6 Pts, 2 PIM. Alex Remenda, F, GP 7, 3 G, 2 A, 5 Pts, 0 PIM. Marcellus Francis, F, GP 7, 2 G, 3 A, 5 pts, 4 PIM.
Played all seven playoff games:
Carter Anton, Jarred Feist, Maxwell Buffone, *Peter Forester, Beau Helmeczi, Easton Glousher, Keenan Marks
Goaltending:
Keenan Marks GP 7, 4-2-1, GAA 3.19, SV% .902, 395 Min.
Liam Letters GP 1, 0-0-0, GAA 1.57, SV% .938, 38 Min.
Coach Rob DeGagne:
Injuries and sick bay.
“We had one. (Zach) Lacasse hurt his knee and (Jamieson) Franz is back now. We had a couple of guys sick with the flu, that kind of thing. Other than that we’re good. . . Everyone’s playing.”
Kam River scouting report.
“I think they’re very strong up front. They have three pretty balanced lines. They’re probably very similar to us in a lot of ways. Their defence is decent, our defence is decent. They’re goaltending is pretty good. I think it should be a really great series. Our teams are very similar.”
Close proximity aspect.
“Well it’s not even (travelling) expenses. It’s wear and tear on the kids. Whether it’s a three, or a four, or a five or a six-hour trip you still have to get on a bus. It’s a day and the late night coming home. It’s going to be a lot better that we only have to go 20 minutes down the road. It’s a big rivalry.”
The rivalry.
“Kids are excited to play Kam River. I think it’s because we’re very similar teams. We have a great rivalry. That’s important for sport. It’s important for our city. I think it’ll be great.”
DeGagne/Wintoneak connection.
“Larry’s a great guy. He’s a good coach. The Walleye are very well coached. He’ll have a good, hard working team. He always does. Should be a lot of fun.”
“We’re looking for a great series. I think it’s going to be a longer series. Hopefully we can come out on top.”
Kam River playoff snapshot: 4W-0L vs ILJ
GF 21 GA 4 Differential 17. PIM 62. Streak 4-0.
PP% 36.4. PK% 94.1. SHGA 0. SHGF 0.
Top eight offence:
Kaden Goodwin, F, GP 4, 4 G, 3 A, 7 Pts, 0 PIM. Jett Mintenko, F, GP 4, 1 G, 6 A, 7 Pts, 0 PIM. Amar Powar, F, GP 4, 3 G, 3 A, 6 Pts, 0 PIM. Daxton Lang, F, GP 4, 2 G, 4 A, 6 Pts, 4 PIM. Carter Poddubny, F, GP 4, 2 G, 4 A, 6 Pts, 4 PIM. Jacob Lamoureux, F, GP 4, 3 G, 1 A, 4 Pts, 4 PIM. *Zach Baumann, F, GP 4, 2 G, 2 A, 4 Pts, 4 PIM. Evan Lachimea, D, GP 4, 1 G, 3 A, 4 Pts, 6 PIM.
Played all four playoff games:
Brodie McLeod, Sam Sargent, Max Wright, Edwin Liang, Easton Debray, Caleb Labelle, Ashton Sadauskas
Goaltending:
Ashton Sadauskas, GP 4, 4-0-0, GAA 1.00, SV% .955, 240 Min.
Sam Keene, Has Not Played
Coach Larry Wintoneak:
Kam River head coach Larry Wintoneak and Thunder Bay head coach Rob DeGagne were teammates for the Allan Cup Champion Thunder Bay Twins back in the day.
“At times we were linemates, you learn a lot off a guy like that. You develop a relationship when you play. It never goes away to be honest with you. . . He’s got his team in a good spot. Should be a humdinger of a series.”
The Walleye have one injury to deal with. They will have had nine day lay-off since their four game sweep over Ironwood.
“We’re chomping at the bit to say the least. Kind of heals all those bumps and bruises when you have that time off. You’d like to play every second day. We’ll take it.”
Thoughts on Thunder Bay.
“They’re a well-balanced team. They added Jarred Feist on January 10th. He’s a good, solid 20-year-old. Plays up with Jordan and Francis. He’s a guy we have watch out there. It’s a good offensive line. They have some depth. Helmeczi, Remenda, rookie of the year Simeoni had a great year. Marksy’s (goaltender Keenan Marks) played well. He’s been their guy right from day one. He’s a guy that can carry a team on his back. Back end is good. Loke and Bryson are a real good pairing. They have a couple of injuries on the back end (Zach Lacasse and Jamieson Franz).”
The differences that win games.
“It’s the little details that are going to make a difference in a hockey game, really. Discipline, puck management, those things you hear about at the higher levels, the National Hockey League, will come into play at this time of the year.”
Kam River’s scouting report.
“Mintenko’s line (Jett Mintenko, Daxton Lang, Kaden Goodwin), you could say they’re number one, but if they’re not going we can insert someone else to rise to the occasion. We can score, there’s no doubt about it. The most important thing to me is: can you defend?. Take a look at this last series (Lumberjacks), going into game three, game four, down there on the road. They’re playing a little more desperately. . . You know, we only allowed one goal against (in those two games). When you shut somebody out in game three and allow only one goal in game four you know you’re doing something right. From January on we’ve allowed the least goals against. It’s not by accident. Good goaltending, attention to detail away from the puck.
The beauty of the second season.
“This is the best time of the year. Now you’re down to the final four. You look at the big picture. There’s only 32 teams left in the country, and we’re one of them. We’re grateful for that. There’s an opportunity here for these guys. It’s going to take the willingness, the urgency, how tight your room is–all those little things that maybe are not scoresheet material. If you’re a tight family, good things happen to you.”