SIJHL COMMUNICATIONS
MEDIA UPDATE
Release Date: Saturday, March 22, 2014
Miners go up 3-2 in series with Ice Dogs
EAR FALLS, Ont. – The English River Miners got a goal and three assists from Richard Dartnall to help lead his side to a 7-4 victory over the Dryden Ice Dogs Saturday evening in Superior International Junior Hockey League quarter-final playoff action at Ear Falls Arena.
With the triumph the Miners now lead their best-of-seven series 3-2 heading into game 6, which goes at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Dryden’s Memorial Arena.
Dartnall got the home side off to a good start as he beat Ice Dogs’ starter Joakim Jutras nine minutes into the contest.
John Morales made it 2-0 at 14:51 of the opening period before Alex Hester notched his SIJHL playoff-leading seventh tally of the postseason at 18:20 to get the Ice Dogs back in it.
Morales quickly restored English River’s two-goal lead 52 seconds into the middle frame, which spelled the end of Jutras’ night in the Dryden net.
Royce King made it 4-1 at 3:47 as he greeted Shayne Dietl to extend the Miners’ lead.
Dryden’s Tyson Holder and Zachary Kercz answered back in rapid succession to make it a 4-3 game, but English River answered back with efforts by Vincent Currao and Brendan Wilde before the session was complete to run the score to 6-3 after 40 minutes.
The Ice Dogs’ Tim Kavanaugh brought the visitors closer with 11:02 to play, but Kellen MacBlain iced with an empty netter in the final seconds to wrap things up.
P.D. Melgoza made 25 saves to record the win for English River.
Jutras allowed three against on 15 shots for Dryden with Dietl suffering the loss in relief giving up three on 14 attempts.
SIJHL PLAYOFF SCHEDULE/RESULTS (ROUND 1)
SERIES A
1 vs. 2 Showdown
No. 1 Fort Frances Lakers vs. No. 2 Thunder Bay North Stars
Lakers win two-game, total-goal series 6-4
Lakers to choose semifinal opponent
Game 1: Thunder Bay 4 Fort Frances 3
Game 2: Fort Frances 3 Thunder Bay 0
SERIES B
Quarter-final
No. 3 Minnesota Iron Rangers vs. No. 6 Wisconsin Wilderness
Minnesota wins best-of-seven series 4-0
Game 1: Minnesota 5 Wisconsin 2
Game 2: Minnesota 4 Wisconsin 3
Game 3: Minnesota 3 Wisconsin 2
Game 4: Minnesota 6 Wisconsin 4
SERIES C
Quarter-final
No. 4 English River Miners vs. No. 5 Dryden Ice Dogs
English River leads best-of-seven series 3-2
Game 1: English River 6 Dryden 2
Game 2: Dryden 3 English River 1
Game 3: Dryden 4 English River 2
Game 4: English River 6 Dryden 3
Game 5: English River 7 Dryden 4
Game 6: Monday, March 24 @ Dryden 7:30 p.m. (Memorial Arena)
Game 7*: Wednesday, March 26 @ English River 7 p.m. (Ear Falls Arena)
*-if necessary