SUPERIOR INTERNATIONAL JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
SIJHL COMMUNICATIONS
MEDIA RELEASE
Release date: Saturday, March 2, 2013
SIJHL Saturday sees Lakers and Wilderness skate to wins
THUNDER BAY, Ont. – Two games on the Superior International Junior Hockey League slate Saturday saw both the Fort Frances Lakers and Minnesota Wilderness skate to victories.
FORT FRANCES LAKERS 5 DRYDEN ICE DOGS 2 – The victories continued for Fort Frances Saturday as the Lakers winning streak reached double digits as they earned the two points for a 10th consecutive outing.
Dryden’s Derek McPhail opened the scoring 17:43 into the contest with the only marker of the opening period beating Fort Frances starter Jameson Shortreed.
It was all Lakers in the middle stanza however as they found the back of the net three times on Ice Dogs’ netminder Eric Szymcyk.
Notching those markers for the home side were Jon Carlson, Patrick Sofer and Jacob Nolan.
Alex Bruess extended the Fort Frances lead to 4-1 early in the final frame before Mike Butler countered for Dryden at 8:49.
However Davis Smith finished off the scoring netting the final goal of the evening at 13:37, which spelled an end to Szymczyk’s night as he gave way to Robert Kopytek the rest of the way.
Shortreed finished up making 25 saves to pick up the win helping his side raise their overall record to 33-15-1-2.
Szymczyk faced 31 shots in a losing cause while Kopytek turned aside all four attempts he faced in relief as Dryden dropped to 28-25-1-1 overall.
MINNESOTA WILDERNESS 6 THUNDER BAY NORTH STARS 0 – Gordy Defiel kicked out all 29 shots he faced to post his league-leading eighth shutout of the season in back stopping the Wilderness to the triumph over visiting Thunder Bay.
The only goal of the first period came off the stick of Minnesota forward Jordan Shockley who fired one past North Stars’ netminder Mitchell Knight.
A trio of second stanza tallies, including two via the power play, allowed the home team to go up four after forth minutes.
Notching those markers were Jake Larson, Dan Divis and Cody Rodgers.
Nick Szopinski, on the man advantage, and Tyler Gorniak rounded out the offensive production in the third.
Jeremy Johnson and Zach Thielen both added two assists apiece for the Wilderness.
Minnesota outshot Thunder Bay 40-29 on the evening with Defiel picking up the win and Knight suffering the setback.
With the victory the Wilderness improved to 51-3-0-2 on the season while the North Stars dropped to 25-26-1-0.
SIJHL play resumes Wednesday as the Ice Dogs host the Lakers at Dryden’s Memorial Arena. Game time is 7:30 p.m.