Gary Moskalyk Recaps the final two games of the second round.
 | AT RED LAKE MINERS |  | ||
| Karson Kerbes scored at 4:47 of double overtime as visiting Dryden took a 4-3 decision and a 3-0 series lead over Red Lake at Cochenour Arena. Kellan Mooney made 52 saves to secure the victory. Nick Peters made 45 saves in the Miners' cage. The Miners outshot the Ice Dogs 18-6 and emerged with a 2-0 lead through one period. Kayne Pawlick secured his own rebound to score his first of the playoffs at 42 seconds to open the scoring early. Justin Gelderland's first of the season at 15:22, a point shot that eluded Mooney, doubled the lead. Max Roby narrowed the lead to one, beating Peters from the high slot at 5:12 of the second for his fourth. Dryden tied the game and took the lead in the third. Elias Eisenbarth got his first, wristing a low shot off a Red Lake defender and in at 32 seconds. Rylan Oatman deposited a cross-ice pass from Evan Mayer at 14:38 to give Dryden their first lead of the game. Nathan Dann sniped his ninth over the pad of Mooney from the point to tie the game at 3-3 78 seconds later. Neither team scored in the first overtime. Dryden had a 14-10 edge in shots in OT1. Kerbes' low shot from the point beat Peters at 4:47 of the second overtime for the game winner. Eli Antoine had two assists for Dryden and Matthew MacPherson and Corbyn Demchuk had two helpers each for Red Lake. There were no penalties called in the last 47 minutes of the game. Dryden took six minors to Red Lake's four. The Ice Dogs were 0-2 on the power play while the Miners were 0-4. |
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| Dryden swept the semi-final series with a 3-0 win over Red Lake. Three unanswered third period goals powered the win. Kellan Mooney stopped 27 shots to earn his first playoff shutout. The game was scoreless through two with Dryden holding a one-shot edge--20-19--through 40 minutes. Red Lake's Nick Peters made a series of saves late in the second period on a Dryden power play to keep the game tied at 0-0. Evan Mayer opened the scoring at 4:38 of the third, wristing one past Peters for his first playoff goal. Eli Antoine doubled the lead to two with a five-hole effort at 13:44. It was Antoine's third with Emmanuel Nkombou collecting his third assist. Elias Eisenbarth added an empty netter with 45 seconds to seal the win. Antoine fed him a cross-ice pass and Eisenbarth buried his second of the post season from a tough angle. Peters stopped 27 of 29 in the loss. Dryden took five minor penalties to Red Lake's three with each team receiving 10-minute misconducts for head contact. Dryden was 0-3 with the man advantage while Red Lake was 0-4 on the power play. Final shots favoured Dryden 30 to 27. Dryden will host Kam River in the Bill Salonen Cup finals starting Saturday and Sunday April 19-20 at 7:00 p.m. CDT. |
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 | AT THUNDER BAY NORTH STAR |  | ||
| Kaden Goodwin scored unassisted at 4:15 of overtime as the Fighting Walleye defeated Thunder Bay 2-1 to take a 3-0 lead in the series. Ashton Sadauskas garnered his seventh playoff win making 28 saves. Keenan Marks was selected the game's first star in a losing effort, stopping 49 of 51 in the North Stars' heartbreaking loss. There was no scoring in the first. Shots favoured the Walleye 20-6. Alex Remenda opened the scoring at 14:32 of the second, poking in a loose rebound for his sixth of the playoffs on a Stars' power play. Marks denied Max Wright from close range with four minutes left in the second frame. Sadauskas stymied Tyler Jordan's last second opportunity for the Walleye. Evan Lachimea tied the score at 1-1 at 4:20 of the third, going glove side on Marks for his second of the post season. He picked up a loose puck at the Stars' blue-line, worked for a better shooting angle and scored unassisted. Jett Mintenko was stoned by Marks at the 12-minute mark. With overtime looming, Kam River was whistled for too many men. They managed to kill off the infraction that extended 1:41 into period four. Beau Helmeczi of Thunder Bay was called for tripping at 3:46 of extra time. Jett Mintenko's point shot was deflected by Goodwin on the Kam River power play to claim the victory. The Walleye were 1-3 with the man advantage while Thunder Bay was 1-4. The Walleye had 10 of the 18 penalty minutes assessed. The Fort William Gardens crowd was 1,617. |
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| The Fighting Walleye advanced to the SIJHL finals with a hard fought 4-3 overtime win over Thunder Bay. Jett Mintenko scored at 6:16 of extra time to clinch the series. A Gardens crowd of 1,242 saw their hometown North Stars drop their third overtime loss of the series. The teams were tied 1-1 through one and 2-2 through two. Marks shut down Kam River's Jacob Lamoureux on a breakaway just two minutes into the game. At 5:51 Lamoureux' high shot from the left dot put Kam River on the board. It was his fifth. Beau Helmeczi tied it at 8:01, beating Ashton Sadauskas from the slot after a nifty backhand pass by Evan Simeoni. Zach Baumann tipped in Carter Poddubny's shot for his third of the playoffs at 5:29 of the second frame for a 2-1 Walleye lead. Maxwell Buffone tied it 1:32 later on a Thunder Bay power play with a slap shot one-timer from the point. Thunder Bay took their only lead at 1:33 of the third. Helmeczi got his second of the game and third of the playoffs by pouncing on a loose puck. Kaden Goodwin polished off a three-way pass play with Lamoureux and Edwin Liang on a Kam River power play to knot the score at 4:50. Kam River was able to kill off a double minor penalty starting at 6:08 of the third. Tyler Jordan had the Stars best chance to end the game with five minutes left in regulation and Carter Poddubny had a good look less than a minute later for Kam River. Mintenko's high wrist shot from a tough angle settled the affair at 6:16 of overtime with Liang collecting his second assist and fourth helper of the post season. Final shots were even, 33-33. Sadauskas collected his eighth consecutive win. His league-leading playoff goals against average stands at 1.58 with a .937 save percentage. Marks ended his age-20 season with 4-3-4 playoff mark. Thunder Bay was 1-7 on the power play while the Walleye were 1-4. Kam River took 10 of the 16 minor penalties called by Jason Begin and Colin Dzijacky. The finals start Saturday night in Dryden. |
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