2025 SIJHL Playoffs Round 1 Games 3 & 4 Recap
Recap by Gary Moskalyk
 | AT IRONWOOD LUMBERJACKS |  | ||
| Kaden Goodwin scored three and Ashton Sadauskas recorded a 16-save shutout as the Fighting Walleye took a commanding 3-0 series lead with a 6-0 win in Ironwood. Kam River outshot the Lumberjacks 35-16 and had a 3-0 lead by 4:48 of the first. Nickolas Fagnilli ripped one top shelf on Trent Boryszczuk at 3:24. Amar Powar's third of the playoffs, a drive from the slot glove side, doubled the lead 38 seconds later. Jett Mintenko's first of the playoffs 46 seconds hence made it 3-0. The Walleye outshot Ironwood 18-4 in the first frame. Goodwin took over from there, scoring his first two in the middle period. He struck midway through with Brodie McLeod and Mintenko in on the goal. Goodwin scored from the high slot at 18:50 for a 5-0 lead. The Thunder Bay, ON native complete his natural hat trick midway through the third. Kam River's sixth goal signaled the end of Boryszczuk's night. Boryszczuk stopped 26 of 32. Kole Kronstedt made three saves in the final 9:48. Goodwin added an assist for a four-point night giving him seven playoff points. Mintenko had a goal and two assists. Kam River took 18 penalty minutes to Ironwood's six. The Walleye were 0-1 with the man advantage while Ironwood was 0-3. A victory Wednesday will complete a sweep. Attendance was 235. |
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| Kam River advanced to the semi-finals with a 4-1 win over Ironwood. Ashton Sadauskas stopped 26 of 27 for his fourth playoff win. The Parksville, BC native stopped 85 of 89 during the sweep. The Walleye joins Dryden on the sidelines, both clubs eyeing up the Thunder Bay/Fort Frances and Sioux Lookout Bombers series' awaiting their next round opponent. All of the scoring was done in the second frame. Evan Lachimea, Jacob Lamoureux and Callum Halls staked the visitors to a 3-0 lead. Lachimea's point shot went through Trent Boryszczuk's legs at 1:01 for his first goal of the second season. Jacob Lamoureux scored his third, deflecting Lachimea's point shot for goal number two at 4:29. Halls backhanded in a rebound at 7:37 for his first of the post season. Aidan Charron's shot knuckled over Sadauskas' glove at 11:09 to pull the 'Jacks to within two. Cole Piccinin got his first playoff goal, digging out a loose puck from a pile of players, on a Walleye power play. The third period was also scoreless. Boryszczuk saved 31 of 35 in the loss. The Walleye took two minor penalties, while Ironwood served 17 minutes in penalties. The Walleye clicked once in two powerplays. The Lumberjacks were 0-2. Halls and Lachimea had two points. Max Wright had a pair of helpers for the Walleye. Attendance was 250. |
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 | AT FORT FRANCES LAKERS |  | ||
| Thunder Bay pulled off a stunner, overcoming a 4-2 deficit with two late third period goals. Maxwell Buffone scored unassisted at 11:54 of overtime to defeat Fort Frances 5-4. The Stars took a 2-1 series lead. Tie Schumacher's wrap around at 8:01 of the first period opened the scoring, giving the Lakers a 1-0 lead. Peter Forester snapped home his first of the playoffs on a North Stars' powerplay at 11:30 to tie it. Fort Frances scored two of the three second period goals to forge ahead 3-2. Ian Ness went over Keenan Marks' shoulder blocker side at 10:21. Marcellus Francis went low blocker side on Gunner Paradis to tie it. Carter Deschamps' redirect on Emerson Evans' shot from the point gave the Lakers a one goal edge entering the third. Brady Krentz added an apparent insurance tally at 12:47 on a Fort Frances power play, after Marks made a series of saves. Down 4-2, Thunder Bay pulled Marks with 2:50 left. Tyler Jordan scored his third of the playoffs through the pads of Paradis at 17:39. Paradis covered up a loose puck in a subsequent sequence, but Alex Remenda redirected Marcellus Francis with 1:09 left to tie the game. Thunder Bay killed of an early penalty in overtime. Fort Frances power play specialist Jack Wood was stymied on his one-timer early on. Carter Deschamps had a pair of looks for the Lakers about seven minutes in. Paradis stopped Jarred Feist and Francis on Thunder Bay chances. The Lakers had seven shots in the extra session, but defenceman Buffone skated down the right side and snuck one past the arm of Paradis from a tough angle to give Thunder Bay the win. Thunder Bay had five shots in OT for a final total of 34. The Lakers had 40. The Stars took four minor penalties to the Lakers three. The Stars were 1-2, Fort Frances 1-4, on the power play. Francis was the only multi-point player in the game, adding an assist. Attendance was 461. |
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| Nolan Koethler made the best out of his first playoff start as the Lakers knotted their series with North Stars, winning 5-1 before 435 fans in Fort Frances. The Lakers rumbled out to a 5-0 lead, Koethler losing his shutout bid with 3:06 left in the game. Brady Krentz struck early, accepting a backhand pass from Ian Ness and depositing his fourth just 46 seconds into the game. Ness and Krentz combined on the Lakers' second goal. Ness got his third on a rebound from a Krentz shot. The Lakers took full control in a three goal second period. Evan Kabel's one-timer on a Lakers' power play at 49 seconds established a 3-0 lead. Carter Deschamps made it 4-0 1:02 later with a wicked wrist shot glove side. The Stars subbed in Liam Letters at 1:51 after Deschamps' goal. Noah McPherson made it 5-0, gaining a step on a North Stars defender, going backhand to forehand and roofing his first of the playoffs at 10:11 of the middle period. Eric Sheriff deflected Chance Loke's point shot at 16:54 of the third for Thunder Bay to close out the scoring. Marks stopped 12 of 16 shots. Letters made 13 stops in 38:09 of action. Thunder Bay was 0-3 on the power play. Fort Frances was 1-4. Both teams took five minor penalties. Game five is Friday night in Thunder Bay. |
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 | AT RED LAKE MINERS |  | ||
| Nathan Dann's penalty shot goal proved to be the game winner as the Red Lake Miners defeated Sioux Lookout 3-2 to take a 2-1 series lead. Both goalies played very well. Nick Peters was the winning goalie for Red Lake, stopping 43 of 45. Losing goaltender Matthew Ofukany stopped 43 of 46. Penalty killing were proficient as well. Neither team scored on the power play. Sioux Lookout was 0-7, Red Lake was 0-6 with the extra man. Red Lake had a 2-1 lead after one. Ryan Heuser slapped in a rebound at 4:56. Noah Tenney made it 2-0 for Red Lake 68 seconds later, on a mini-breakaway and backhander past Ofukany. Dylan Orr replied on a point shot for Sioux Lookout just 13 seconds later. Dann's penalty shot followed an apparent goal moments earlier. Dann fired one wide off the glass, played his own rebound, and sniped in his own rebound from a tough angle. The goal was waved off. Later, Dann was interfered with on a shorthanded scoring chance and awarded a penalty shot. The team's top regular season sniper (29 goals) took his time coming in and slipped one in five-hole to give the Miners a two-goal edge. The Bombers narrowed the lead to 3-2 with Ofukany out for an extra man and just nine seconds left in regulation. Michael Casey added a little suspense to the final outcome but the Bombers could not muster the game tyer in the few seconds left. Sioux Lookout was down two men in the third period for a stretch, but Red Lake took some penalties of their own to offset the potential damage. Red Lake had 18 penalty minutes to Sioux Lookout's 16. Dann added an assist for two points, while Kaden Veller and Alex Lucas had two helpers each for Sioux Lookout. All of the scorers notched their first goals of the playoffs. |
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| Sage Roberts had two goals and one assist and Matthew Spencer-Dahl made 27 saves on 28 shots as the Bombers defeated Red Lake 5-1, tying the series at two games apiece. Roberts scored the only goal of the first, collecting a loose puck after several saves by Red Lake starter Nick Peters. The goal came at 18:54. Sioux Lookout scored three of four second period goals. The goals were scored in a span of 7:15. Jonah Smith doubled the lead with his first of the playoffs at 1:23, scoring unassisted, stripping the puck at in the Bomber zone and racing down on a breakaway. Bryson Carlyle made it 2-1 at 2:05 with a glove side wrister past Spencer-Dahl. Michael Casey and Owen Cotter scored 91 seconds apart at 7:07 and 8:38 to give Sioux Lookout a three-goal lead entering the third. Red Lake replaced Peters with Koen Webber to start the third stanza. Peters stopped 29 of 33 in his 40 minutes. Roberts scored his second of the game on re-direct midway through the third to close out the scoring. Brodie Wood and Alex Lucas had two assist nights for the Bombers. Webber stopped 10 of 11 in relief. After a penalty free first period, the penalty box saw plenty of action. Red Lake took 34 of 62 penalty minutes dished out by referees Will Cox and Travis Batters. Four 10-minute misconducts--two for each team--inflated the PIMs. Game five is Friday in Sioux Lookout. |
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