SUPERIOR INTERNATIONAL JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
SIJHL COMMUNICATIONS
MEDIA UPDATE
Release Date: Friday, March 28, 2014
SIJHL semifinal preview
THUNDER BAY, Ont. – The Superior International Junior Hockey League semifinals get underway tonight on two fronts with the Fort Frances Lakers hosting the English River Miners at Ice for Kids Arena at 7:30 p.m. and the Thunder Bay North Stars entertaining the Minnesota Iron Rangers at the Fort William Gardens at 8 p.m. in the respective game 1 in each of these best-of-seven affairs.
The following is a preview of each series:
Series D
Semifinal
No. 1 Fort Frances Lakers vs. No. 4 English River Miners
Best-of-seven series
Game 1: Friday, March 28 @ Fort Frances 7:30 p.m. (Ice for Kids)
Game 2: Saturday, March 29 @ Fort Frances 7:30 p.m. (Ice for Kids)
Game 3: Thursday, April 3 @ English River 7 p.m. (Ear Falls)
Game 4: Friday, April 4 @ English River 7 p.m. (Ear Falls)
Game 5*: Sunday, April 6 @ Fort Frances 7:30 p.m. (’52 Canadians)
Game 6*: Tuesday, April 8 @ English River 7 p.m. (Ear Falls)
Game 7*: Wednesday, April 9 @ Fort Frances 7:30 p.m. (Ice for Kids)
*-if necessary
HOW THEY ARRIVED: Fort Frances earned an automatic semifinal berth by virtue of finishing first overall in the SIJHL regular season standings.
They also won the 1 vs. 2 Showdown two-game, total-goal series with Thunder Bay by a 6-4 count thus earning the right to choose their semifinal opponent. They opted to take on the lowest remaining playoff seed, which turned out to be the Miners.
English River advanced after defeating the Dryden Ice Dogs in six hard-fought games in quarter-final action.
POSTSEASON PERFORMERS: Lucas Debenedet, a CCM first team-star, CCM rookie of the year and SIJHL scoring leader with 112 points, shared the Lakers point-lead in the Showdown games with two by notching a pair of goals.
Those two tallies combined with the league-best 48 he scored during the regular season gives him a total of 50 on the season to date.
Brent Aiken, Miles Nolan and Donovan Cousineau also chipped in with two points apiece against the North Stars.
English River got plenty of offensive support in their quarter-final series with Dryden as they had eight skaters average a point-per-game or better vs. the Ice Dogs.
Richard Dartnall and Vincent Currao lead the way with seven points apiece.
Meanwhile captain Royce King, Brendan Wilde, John Morales, Paul Lamoureux, Taylor Bargar and Ryley Pace all chipped in with half a dozen points in the triumph over Dryden.
Devin Tappenden is 1-1 for the Lakers in net so far in the playoffs and has the only shutout to date, a 3-0 triumph over Thunder Bay in the 1 vs. 2 Showdown finale.
His 2.00 goals-against average ties him for the league playoff lead. He sits third in save percentage at .917.
Greg Harney of the Miners is fourth in average at 2.76 and second in save percentage at .919.
Harney went 2-2 against Dryden in round 1 while P.D. Melgoza was 2-0 with a 3.50 GAA and .885 save mark.
HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Lakers owned the season series between the two sides winning 10 of the 11 meetings.
Fort Frances outscored the Miners 51-24 overall.
English River’s lone triumph against the Lakers came back on December 10 in Ear Falls, a 4-3 victory with Melgoza making 38 saves for the Miners and Lamoureux scoring the game-winner in their third period.
Series E
Semifinal
No. 2 Thunder Bay North Stars vs. No. 3 Minnesota Iron Rangers
Best-of-seven series
Game 1: Friday, March 28 @ Thunder Bay 8 p.m. (Gardens)
Game 2: Saturday, March 29 @ Thunder Bay 8 p.m. (Gardens)
Game 3: Tuesday, April 1 @ Minnesota 7 p.m. (Hoyt Lakes)
Game 4: Wednesday, April 2 @ Minnesota 7 p.m. (Hoyt Lakes)
Game 5*: Friday, April 4 @ Thunder Bay 7:30 p.m. (Gardens)
Game 6*: Sunday, April 6 @ Minnesota 3 p.m. (Hoyt Lakes)
Game 7*: Tuesday, April 8 @ Thunder Bay 7:30 p.m. (Gardens)
*-if necessary
HOW THEY ARRIVED: Like Fort Frances, Thunder Bay earned an automatic berth in the semifinals after finishing second overall in the SIJHL standings.
Minnesota moved on after sweeping the Wisconsin Wilderness in four straight games in quarter-final action.
POSTSEASON PERFORMERS: The trio of Brandon Wolframe, Kris Kellaway and Trevor Hynnes led the North Stars offensively against the Lakers in the 1 vs. 2 Showdown with two points each.
Thunder Bay’s big line of Daniel Del Paggio, Zach Grzelewski and Matthias Gardiman, who combined 261 points during the regular season, were held pointless against Fort Frances in round 1.
Leading Minnesota in their sweep of Wisconsin in the quarter-finals were A.J. Rupert, Evan Erickson and Jason Reynolds, who picked up five points apiece against the Wilderness.
T.J. Samec was tied with Trevor Hoth with three points each.
Of note, both of the goals Samec scored vs. Wisconsin were game-winners.
The Iron Rangers Erick Majerle is tied for the SIJHL playoff lead in goals-against average at 2.00. He is fourth in save percentage at .902.
He went 2-0 in round 1 while Alex Reichle also went 2-0 sporting a 3.50 GAA and .899 save mark.
Thunder Bay’s Eric Mann is third in average at 2.52 and leads all netminders in save percentage at .938 while going 1-1 against the Lakers in the 1 vs. 2 total-goal match-up.
HEAD-TO-HEAD: Thunder Bay and Minnesota met 11 times during the course of the regular season.
They played five times at the Fort William Gardens and five more at Hoyt Lakes Arena with one more held during the SIJHL Showcase in Spooner, Wis.
The Iron Rangers won the season set 6-5 with six of the contests decided by just one goal.
Four of the games also needed either overtime or a shootout to determine a winner.
The North Stars did outscore the Iron Rangers 40-36 in their 11 meetings.