Before we look ahead to Round 2 of the SIJHL Playoffs here is everything you may have missed from the Fighting Walleye’s 1st round series.
Game 1 Kam River 8 Kenora 0
Kam River scored four in the first and never looked back, dispatching the Islanders 8-0 before 528 fans at Norwest Arena. Kaden Goodwin had two goals and an assist, Ryan Doucette had one goal and two assists, and Brydon Bell, Ryan Daponte and Jett Mintenko all had a goal and assist each. Matteo Salvatore and Carter Poddubny had two assists each. Liam Bell and Carter Nailen added solos. In all, 14 Walleye players hit the scoresheet.
Ashton Sadauskas picked up a 26-save shutout while Matthew Stephens was on the hook for all eight goals on 49 Walleye shots. It was a penalty-filled contest, especially in the third period. The Walleye scored three on their powerplay, killing off three Kenora chances. Eight 10-minute misconducts were called, 112 penalty minutes assessed, with the Walleye taking 72 of them.
Game 2 Kam River 8 Kenora 3
Kam River scored three late goals to turn a tight 5-3 game into a convincing 8-3 win before 468 fans at Norwest Arena. Matthew Stephens stopped 62 of 70 to keep the Islanders in it for most of the game.
Kam River took a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes, with Carter Nailen and Kaden Goodwin doing the damage with powerplay goals in the first.
Kenora erupted for three in the second. Brayden Mackay scored 34 seconds into the period on an Islander power play to tighten the score to 2-1. Carter Poddubny re-established the two-goal margin at 3:17. Chance Traverse made it 3-2. Nickolas Fagnilli put the Walleye up 4-2 but Jarod Lemieux got his first of the playoffs with 2:01 left to shave the lead to one.
Brydon Bell gave Kam River a 5-3 edge at 6:44 of the third. With 2:33 left Jett Mintenko and unassisted markers by Evan Lachimea and Caleb Labelle put the game away.
Ashton Sadauskas made 16 saves for his second playoff win.
Mintenko also had two assists for a three-point night. Fagnilli and Goodwin added an assist each, and Easton DeBray had a pair of apples to complement the Kam River offence. The Islanders were 1-4 on the powerplay while Kam River was 2-8.
The Islanders took 48 of 68 penalty minutes.
Games three and four are scheduled for Monday and Tuesday in Kenora.
Game 3 Kam River 10 Kenora 2
Kam River pumped in six third period goals to sweep Kenora with a 10-2 win at Woodland Arena in Vermillion Bay, ON. Ryan Doucette had two goals and an assist, defenceman Liam Bell had two goals, Jacob Sargent had a goal and two assists, and Jett Mintenko dished out three helpers to power the attack.
Brydon Bell, Easton Debray and Evan Lachimea had a goal and assist each and Nickolas Fagnilli had two assists to supplement the barrage. Kaden Goodwin and Carter Nailen added solo tallies.
Ashton Sadauskas picked up his third playoff win.
Jarod Lemieux and Keanu Woodhouse replied for Kenora. Connor Dunham-Fox took the loss in the Kenora net.
Nailen, Sargent, Doucette and Liam Bell all scored on Walleye power plays, while Lemieux clicked on the man advantage for the Islanders. Kenora had eight minor penalties to Kam River’s six.
The Walleye opened the scoring at 32 seconds, and led 2-0 after one. Two Kam River powerplay goals in the second upped the lead to 4-0, before Lemieux shaved a goal off the margin to close out the second. Kam River struck for the first five in the third frame to an exclamation point on the victory.
Game 4 Kam River 9 Kenora 3
Kam River punched their ticket to the semi-finals, scoring four unanswered third period goals to break open a 5-3 game and defeat the Kenora Islanders 9-3 in Vermillion Bay, ON. The Walleye will face Dryden or Red Lake. Sioux Lookout takes on Thunder Bay in the other semi-final series.
Kaden Goodwin scored two powerplay goals 49 seconds apart to open the third period to essentially put the game on ice. Evan Lachimea and Jett Mintenko added even more insurance. Both tallied their third goals of the playoffs, Lachimea at 8:50 and Mintenko at 16:59. Goodwin leads all playoff snipers with six goals. Mintenko is tied with Edison Weeks of Thunder Bay with 11 points.
Seven Walleye players had two points. Ryan Daponte, Carter Nailen, Mintenko and Carter Poddubny had a goal and assist each. Edwin Liang and Sam Sargent had two assists each. Caleb Labelle added a solo tally.
Grady Priest had two goals, and John Paul Scaringi chipped in with two assists for the Islanders. Brayden Mackay was the other Islander goal scorer. Travis VanderZwaag was the winning goalie. Kaden King shouldered the loss for Kenora.
Shots were not available at press time.
The Islanders hung in for two periods. They were down 3-2 after 20 minutes, and 5-3 at the end of the second. Priest pulled the Islanders to within a goal with his unassisted marker at 4:12 of the second to make it 4-3. Priest went end-to-end on a solo dash. Nailen clicked on a rebound at 12:38 of the second to re-establish a two-goal Kam River cushion, before the third period Walleye eruption put the game away.
Goodwin had both of Kam River’s powerplay goals. The Walleye penalty kill nullified four Kenora chances.
Both teams took four minor penalties each. Kam River also picked up a 10-minute misconduct.
The Miners lead their series against Dryden three games to one. They lost game four in overtime and now face the Ice Dogs in Dryden for game five on Monday.