SUPERIOR INTERNATIONAL JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
SIJHL MEDIA UPDATE
Release Date: Saturday, Feb. 7, 2015
Photo credit: Leith Dunick, www.tbnewswatch.com
Dryden’s Golka reaches significant SIJHL milestone
THUNDER BAY, Ont. – The on-ice efforts of Dryden GM Ice Dogs forward Cole Golka have see him earn a place in both his team and the Superior International Junior Hockey League record books.
In a 7-4 road victory over the long-time rival Thunder Bay North Stars Friday, Golka scored his 40th goal of the season becoming just the third Dryden player ever as well as the 18th in SIJHL history to accomplish the feat.
Golka’s totals, with still 14 games remaining in the GM Ice Dogs regular season, ties him for 15th all-time in goals in a single campaign with three others, including former Dryden forward Joel Poshtar, who notched 40 markers of his own in 48 outings with the club back in 2003-04.
Mason Meyer of the Fort Frances Lakers last season and North Stars’ alumnus Joey Nigro in 2005-06 also lit the lamp 40 times in a season.
The 20-year-old Strathcona County, Alta., product can now set his sights on matching and eventually surpassing the Dryden record for most goals in one season.
That was established by Jordan Chong back in 2005-06 as he scored 42 times for the Ice Dogs in 47 games.
As the league’s leading point producer to date in 2014-15, with 71, which includes 31 assists, Golka will have his work cut out for him however to reach the SIJHL mark for goals in a season.
That was set back in 2005-06 by former North Stars standout Kory McEwen, who connected 69 times in helping lead his side to a Bill Salonen Cup league crown, a Dudley-Hewitt Cup title and a semifinal berth in that season’s Royal Bank Cup national championship event where they fell in overtime to the eventual winners, the Burnaby Express (BCHL).
That North Stars squad also featured a pair of future NHLers in current Nashville Predators netminder Carter Hutton and Pittsburgh Penguins defenceman Robert Bortuzzo.
Golka and the rest of his Dryden teammates return to the ice Saturday as they host first place Fort Frances in an 8 p.m. start at Memorial Arena.
The following is the all-time list of the top single season goal scorers in SIJHL history:
| SIJHL leaders: Goals in a single season (40 or more) | |||||||
| RANK | FIRST | LAST | POS. | TEAM | SEASON | GP | G |
| 1 | Kory | McEwen | F | Fort William North Stars | 2005-06 | 50 | 69 |
| 2 | Chris | Bryson | F | Schreiber Diesels | 2006-07 | 49 | 56 |
| 3 | Chris | Hoffman | F | Sioux Lookout Flyers | 2011-12 | 52 | 49 |
| T-4 | Brian | Dzijak | F | Thunder Bay Bulldogs | 2001-02 | 42 | 48 |
| T-4 | Chris | Bryson | F | Schreiber Diesels | 2005-06 | 42 | 48 |
| T-4 | Lucas | DeBenedet | F | Fort Frances Lakers | 2013-14 | 56 | 48 |
| T-7 | Kevin | Webb | F | Borderland Thunder | 2001-02 | 48 | 46 |
| T-7 | Jordan | Smith | D | Fort William North Stars | 2006-07 | 49 | 46 |
| 9 | Jake | Larson | F | Minnesota Wilderness | 2012-13 | 49 | 44 |
| T-10 | Justin | Gvora | F | Thunder Bay Bearcats | 2006-07 | 43 | 43 |
| T-10 | Brian | Dzijak | F | Thunder Bay Bulldogs | 2002-03 | 52 | 43 |
| T-10 | Zach | Grzelewski | F | Thunder Bay North Stars | 2013-14 | 53 | 43 |
| 13 | Jordan | Chong | F | Dryden Ice Dogs | 2005-06 | 47 | 42 |
| 14 | Trevor | Gamache | F | Fort William North Stars | 2008-09 | 49 | 41 |
| T-15 | Joey | Nigro | F | Fort William North Stars | 2005-06 | 47 | 40 |
| T-15 | Joel | Poshtar | F | Dryden Ice Dogs | 2003-04 | 48 | 40 |
| T-15 | Mason | Meyer | F | Fort Frances Lakers | 2013-14 | 55 | 40 |
| T-15 | Cole | Golka | F | Dryden GM Ice Dogs | 2014-15 | 41* | 40 |
| *-Current season | |||||||
| List compiled by SIJHL Communications/TH Sports Media | |||||||