By Gary Moskalyk
Ten games–Tuesday through Sunday–are on the SIJHL schedule this week. Marquee match-up? Second place Dryden takes on the first place Walleye at Norwest Arena on Friday and Saturday. Kam River is on a five-game winning streak and Dryden is undefeated in six entering this week.
Sioux Lookout comes to Thunder Bay for a weekend pair in another intriguing set-to.
Kam River 21-5-1 GF 110 GA 73 @ Fort Frances 5-21-0 GF 61 GA 159, Tue Jan 10
Kam River has not played a game in a month. They break in the 2023 year with a road game against last place Fort Frances.
Ethan Lang has 30 points to lead the team in scoring. Jeremy Dunmore (10-14-24), defenceman-of-the-month Jack Cook (7-15-22), Carson Gorst (8-12-20), Max Leduc (7-12-19), Euan Morrison (6-12-18), Ryan Doucette (8-9-17) and Anthony Oviedo (9-7-16) provide plenty of support.
Eric Vanska’s 15 wins lead the league, and Jack Orchard has six victories and a 2.45 GAA in relief.
The powerplay continues to improve. It’s at 14.2%. The PK is 84.9%.
Not surprisingly, the Walleye are 4-0-0 in their season series with the Lakers.
Fort Frances is coming off a rough weekend against Sioux Lookout having allowed 22 goals. They’re on a seven-game slide.
They did, however, score eight on the weekend and Ryker Watt has 22 points (11-11) to lead the parade. At 19th in league scoring he’s the only Laker in the top-40.
Clark Scaddan (8-8-16), Kevin Bond (8-7-15) and Ian Snooks (3-9-12) are next in line.
Brendan Stroble leads the team in minutes. Ryan Tanner shares netminding duties.
Despite all the adversity the Lakers have a league-average powerplay at 16.8%. They’re penalty kill is a different story–67.8%.
Wisconsin 9-16-4 GF 114 GA 134 @ Thunder Bay 12-8-4 GF 90 GA 78, Wed Jan 11
Wisconsin has the SI’s two 40-point men, forward Ryder McMillen (17-31-48) and defenceman Zach Carson (18-22-40). Carson’s dynamite on the powerplay, with eight markers.
Dillon Phillips (9-22-31), Sal Poggiali (14-16-30), d-man Dylan Jouppi (1-23-24) and Brandon McDonald (5-18-23) are in the top-17. Zach Johnson’s 11 goals and five helpers round out their top-40 contingent.
Kyler Lowden is 7-7-3 in net with a 4.12 GAA, .890 SV% and 1,035 minutes. Emmett Doherty and William Forrester provide support.
Despite all the firepower the Lumberjacks are at 16.8% on the powerplay. They’re league-average–82.1%–on the penalty kill. Consistent with their run and gun offence, they’ve allowed eight goals while on the powerplay and scored seven while shorthanded.
The Lumberjacks are undefeated in three games, and they’ll probably improve their winning percentage in the second half as the hockey gods relax their strangle hold and allow the ‘Jacks to win the occasional one-goal game.
Wisconsin has one overtime win against Thunder Bay in five contests.
At 16.1 penalty minutes per game, Wisconsin is the least penalized team in the league.
Thunder Bay enters a tough stretch of games with a number of injuries on the books. They’ll be drawing upon their affiliated players to fill the breach.
Edison Weeks leads the team in goals with 14 and points, 25, in 24 games. Dylan Winsor (8-14-22 in 22 games), Noah Broughton (7-12-19 in 20 games) and Dimitri Trahiotis (10-6-16 in 19 games) are integral pieces.
In net, Conner Lemieux is 6-4-3, 3.14/.914 in 13 games with 765 minutes. Quietly making a big name for himself is rookie Keenan Marks with a 6-1-1 log and 2.14/.941 splits.
Thunder Bay’s powerplay is exactly league-average at 17.1%. Notably, they’ve allowed just one goal while up a man. Their penalty kill is 85.8%–third best in the league.
Currently in fifth place, the North Stars have games in hand with every team in the league with five in hand on Red Lake, who sit two points ahead in fourth.
Thunder Bay is 4-4-2 in their last 10.
Dryden 17-7-1 GF 104 GA 71 @ Red Lake 13-12-4 GF 101 GA 102, Wed Jan 11
Dryden is actually 17-4-1 if you forget the fact that they started the season 0-3. The Ice Dogs average 4.16 goals per game, second in the league.
Bryce Benfield has 11 goals and 17 helpers in 22 games. Landen Stromme’s 14 goals lead the team. He’s added eight helpers. Jordan Pfoh (10-10-20), Ryland Maier (8-12-20), James Hooton (12-7-19), Brady Frattinger (6-12-18) and Max Roby (10-7-17 in 14 games) round out the Dryden players in the top-40.
Eric Clark is 12-5-1 between the pipes, with a 2.63 GAA and .918 SV%. Zac MacDonald is 5-2-0 with 3.05/.892 numbers.
Dryden leads the SIJHL is PP% and PK% with 21.9% and 87.3% numbers on the report card. They’ve also scored seven shorties, tied with Wisconsin for top marks.
Dryden spends 32 minutes in the penalty box per game, eight more than second place Kam River, and 10 more than 22.0 minute league average.
Dryden has a 2-1-0 record against Red Lake this season.
Red Lake is 4-4-2 in their last 10, and that .500 pace pretty much captures their .517 season. They’ve scored 101 and allowed 102 goals.
Colton Crysler has 28 points to lead the team in points. Jacob Lamoureux leads the league with 19 snipes. Aiden Corbett has 26 points. Defenceman Dayvan Bull (4-16-20) and Kyle Schechtel (8-9-17) add to the scoring depth.
Jack Osmond is 10-7-2/2.83/.930 in the cage while Trent Boryszczuk has two starts, a win, and a .929 SV% as the new kid in town.
Red Lake’s PP is 14.4% and PK is 86.6%. Their penalty kill has scored six times. Their 10 net goals allowed during the penalty kill is best in the league.
The Miners are the second lowest penalized team in the SI, averaging 17.6 minutes.
Dryden @ Kam River Fri/Sat Jan 13/14
The season series is 2-1-0 in favour of Kam River. This is your must see SIJHL.TV doubleheader.
Sioux Lookout 17-11-0 GF 123 GA 86 @ Thunder Bay, Fri/Sat Jan 13/14
The Bombers are +37 on the season. They have the top offence in the league at 4.39 goals per game.
Blake Burke (15-18-33) and Ty Bahm (9-22-31) sit three and four in league scoring. Owen Riffel (14-11-25) and Connor Burke (7-16-23) are in the top-20. Lucas Trimarchi (9-12-21 in 20 games), Nolan Palmer (7-13-20) and Graeme Patrick (5-13-18) follow. Tegan Neuman has 17 points in 12 games. In case you’re wondering, Alex Lucas had six goals and two assists in 27 games before his eight assist night against Wisconsin on January 7th.
Nathan Dann has 12 points in nine games and Mitchell Daines seven points in seven games.
Jake Manners has 13 wins on the year with a 2.63 GAA and .922 SV%. His 1,222 minutes are number one in the league. Ethan Penner is 2-1-0/3.33/.912 in the back-up role.
Sioux Lookout has an 18.2% success rate on the powerplay has 32 goals with the man advantage. The PK is 83.6%.
The Bombers lead the season series 3-2-0 against Thunder Bay.
Red Lake @ Fort Frances Fri/Sat Jan 13-14
The Miners lead the season series 4-3-0 against the Lakers.
Red Lake @ Wisconsin Sun Jan 15
Red Lake is 4-2-0 against Wisconsin, including the 9-8 barn burner overtime win Nov. 12 in Red Lake.