SUPERIOR INTERNATIONAL JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
SIJHL COMMUNICATIONS
MEDIA UPDATE
Release Date: Friday, Jan. 17, 2014
Pair of 1-goal games Friday in SIJHL play
THUNDER BAY, Ont. – A pair of games Friday in the Superior International Junior Hockey League resulted in a couple of one-goal decisions as the Minnesota Iron Rangers edged the Thunder Bay North Stars 4-3 in a shootout while the English River Miners slipped past the Dryden Ice Dogs 6-5.
MINNESOTA IRON RANGERS 4 THUNDER BAY NORTH STARS 3 (SO) – Matt O’Dea scored the only goal in the shootout as the Iron Rangers withstood a North Stars rally to prevail at Hoyt Lakes Arena.
After a scoreless opening period Minnesota jumped out to a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes getting a shorthanded marker from Jonathon Losurdo along with even strength efforts from newcomer Connor Mize and another by Losurdo all adfter Daniel Delpaggio connected on the power play for Thunder Bay.
The North Stars forced extra time after getting a man advantage marker from Cary Brown in the first minute of the third and the equalizer from Delpaggio with five and half minutes to go.
After neither side could end it during the five-minute overtime extra shots were required to determine who would get the extra point on the night.
There it was O’Dea who notched the only tally in six attempts as he snapped the winner past Eric Mann in the Thunder Bay net to end it on the final attempt of the game.
Erick Majerle faced only 16 shots as well as turning aside all three he saw in the shootout to pick-up the win.
Mann was solid helping his side salvage a point making 29 saves in 65 minutes of action for the Stars who saw a seven-game winning streak come to an end.
Of note, with his two goals and an assist on Brown’s tally Delpaggio extended a consecutive game point streak to 16 straigfht outings.
ENGLISH RIVER MINERS 6 DRYDEN ICE DOGS 5 – A high-scoring affair staged at Cochenour Arena in Red Lake saw the Miners prevail over the Ice Dogs in front of a boisterous crowd of over 500 fans.
English River stormed out to a 3-0 lead after one period of play on tallies by Dominic Blouin, Ian Bablitz and Ryker Moreau.
The second stanza featured plenty of offensive production including five goals by Dryden and a pair by the Miners to level the proceedings at 5-5 after 40 minutes.
After the Ice Dogs’ Chris Belhumeur and Blouing traded power play markers, Dryden blasted three straight past English River netminder P.D. Melgoza to tie it on efforts supplied by Dane Feeney, Belhumeur and Ryan Salazar.
Each side added one more before the session was complete with Blouin capping off a hat-trick and Chris Sitco countering for the Ice Dogs.
Eric Master then scored the game-winner midway through the final frame to give the Miners the win.
Shots on goal favoured the winning side by a 43-42 margin with Melgoza picking up the win and Joakim Jutras suffering the loss.
Three more SIJHL games are on the slate Saturday as Wisconsin visits Minnesota, Fort Frances entertains Thunder Bay while Dryden hosts English River as they wrap-up their weekend home-and-home at Memorial Arena.