By Gary Moskalyk
Kam River 5 @ Wisconsin 3, Wed Nov 9
Kam River built a 4-1 lead and Eric Vanska stopped 46 of 49 shots as the visiting Walleye defeated Wisconsin 5-3 in Spooner, WI. Vanska picked up his ninth win of the year.
Lumberjacks netminder Kyler Lowden was also busy in net, turning aside 36.
Ryland Semaniuk and Brodie McLeod scored goals early to put Kam River up 2-0. Ryder McMillen notched a powerplay marker to close the gap. The first period was a physical affair, with both teams being whistled for seven infractions each.
The second period featured a goal by Anthony Oviedo, and some fine goaltending by Vanska, who stopped 17 shots in the frame.
Max Leduc put Kam River up 4-1 at 1:25 of the third. Salvatore Poggiali registered his 8th and Ryan Nutt his first of the season, as Wisconsin climbed back to within one. Newly acquired Kennan Reyelts scored unassisted into an empty net with 11 seconds left to finish it.
Kam River is on a three-game winning streak, while Wisconsin is on a five-game slide with three more weekend games on tap.
Oviedo added an assist and Daxton Lang had two helpers to lead the Walleye.
Wisconsin’s horses were at it again. McMillen had a two-point night to up his season haul to 29. Zach Carson had three assists to give him 21. Poggiali’s goal and assist gives him eight plus eight for 16 points, and Dillon Phillips’ lone assist has him at 22 points on the year. McMillen, Phillips and Carson are 1,2,3 in league scoring and Poggiali is fifth.
The Lumberjacks drew 251 fans.
Thunder Bay 8 @ Fort Frances 4, Thunder Bay 9 @ Fort Frances 0, Fri/Sat Nov 11/12.
Thunder Bay fired 25 second period shots and scored on six of them to defeat Fort Frances 8-4 in Laker territory on Friday.
Three North Stars registered their first goals of the year and Keenan Marks won his third game of the season, stopping 29.
The Lakers jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. Dylan Wedword scored shorthanded a minute in, and Ryker Watt doubled the lead at 2:23. EJ Paddington replied for Thunder Bay–his first of the 2022-23 season–on assists from Dylan Winsor and newly acquired Jake Parker.
Dimitri Trahiotis and Noah Broughton struck early in the second to give the Stars a 3-2 edge. Ian Snooks made it 3-all 1:17 later. Thunder Bay went on to score four unanswered goals in the remaining 14:31 of the pivotal second frame to put the game away. Winsor on the powerplay, Liam Murdoch with his first of the year, Parker with his first as a North Star, and Broughton with his second of the game, all beat a beleaguered Kaden King, who turned aside 19 shots in the middle frame and 48 shots overall in a losing cause.
Watt notched his fourth for Fort at 1:13 and Colby Feist added Thunder Bay’s final tally at 14:44.
Winsor and Parker had three points each, Jamie Fuchs had three assists, and Broughton’s pair highlighted the North Stars’ score sheet. Edison Weeks, Thunder Bay’s top point producer, had a lone assist.
Watt’s two goals, four on the year, drove the Laker offense.
Thunder Bay was 1-4 with the man advantage while Fort Frances was 0-6.
Attendance for game one of the weekend set was announced at 288.
In Saturday’s game Thunder Bay scored four in the first, two in the second and three in the third and Conner Lemieux recorded a 22-save shutout for win number five as the North Stars rumbled to a 9-0 drubbing of Fort Frances.
Brenden Stroble made 53 saves including 26 in a 30-shot barrage in the first frame for Fort.
Despite the score or perhaps because of it, 72 penalty minutes were assessed.
Colby Feist recorded a hat trick, scoring once in each period. The Coldstream, BC native has five goals in four games for the Stars. Solo tallies went to Matthew Halushak, Jamie Fuchs, Edison Weeks, Noah Broughton, EJ Paddington and Easton Glousher. Fuchs added two assists, Bobby Doukov had three helpers, and Weeks added a helper to place him sixth in league scoring with an 8G-11A split.
Thunder Bay was 3-9 on the power play, while Fort was blanked in five opportunities.
Lemieux is the league leader in GAA and SV%, with a 2.37, .929 marks. Back-up Keenan Marks, short of the league minimum of 240 minutes has even better numbers (1.95, .942).
Thunder Bay has accumulated 15 of a possible 20 points in their last 10 games, tops in the SIJHL in the span.
Wisconsin 5 @ Red Lake 7, Wisconsin 8 @ Red Lake 9, Fri/Sat Nov 11/12
Matthew MacPherson scored his first two goals for Red Lake as the hometown Miners sent Wisconsin to their sixth straight loss with a 7-5 win.
Jacob Lamoureux scored his league-leading 15th goal at 7:14 of the first for a 1-0 Miners lead. Dillon Phillips tied it up for Wisconsin. Aidan Ballance tallied for Red Lake for a 2-1 lead.
Seven combined goals were scored in the second period. Red Lake netted the final three to emerge with a 6-4 lead after 40 minutes.
Salvatore Poggiali tied it up. Colton Crysler put the Miners ahead. Dylan Olsen and Caden Sutter gave Wisconsin a brief 4-3 edge. MacPherson, Dobie Unrau and MacPherson, again, provided the scoring as Red Lake took a lead they would not relinquish.
Phillips drew Wisconsin closer in the third, but Aiden Corbett tallied at 15:29 to restore the lead.
Red Lake had six players with two or more points. Ballance had three, Lamoureux and Corbett added an assist each. Trevor Sanderson had a pair of helpers and MacPherson had his two markers.
Phillips had a pair of goals for Wisconsin. Poggiali added an assist. Zach Carson and Ryder McMillen padded their numbers with a pair of assists.
Jack Osmond collected his 7th win handling 39 shots. William Forrester faced 30 Red Lake shots.
Neither team scored on the powerplay. Wisconsin went 0-12, while Red Lake was 0-5. Red Lake took 36 minutes in penalties, while Wisconsin tallied 24.
In game two of the weekend set, Wisconsin rallied for four unanswered third period goals to tie Red Lake, but Aidan Ballance tallied at 1:47 of overtime to propel the Miners to a 9-8 win in Saturday’s game.
The 17 total goals are a season high. Connor Hatfield let in seven of the eight but was between the pipes when it counted the most to a collect an unlikely win in his first start for the Miners. Jack Osmond came on 33 seconds into the second period, played the rest of the period. Hatfield then finished off the game.
Kyler Lowden made 29 saves for the Lumberjacks.
Alas, the game was not about goaltending. It was about offense, and two Lumberjacks were leading the parade. Brandon McDonald had seven points, with two goals and five assists, and captain Salvatore Poggiali had a five-point night with a 2G-3A. Dylan Olsen chipped in with a pair.
The Miners had three players register two goals: Ballance, Dobie Unrau and Kyle Schechtel. Jacob Lamoureux fired in number 16 for the Miners and added two assists for 23 total points. Matthew MacPherson added three assists.
Only three Miners did not have at least one point in the high-scoring affair.
Red Lake had period leads of 5-3 and 8-4 before the Lumberjack uprising in the third.
Wisconsin was 4-10 with the man advantage while Red as 0-3. Wisconsin took 36 minutes in penalties, Red Lake, 26.
Dryden 4 @ Sioux Lookout 3, Sat Nov 12
The Ice Dogs fell behind 3-0, but roared back with three power play markers and a Max Roby game winner at 8:09 of the third to defeat Sioux Lookout 4-3.
Alex Lucas opened the game with a power play tally and Jack Hale added at 18:22 for a 2-0 Bomber lead. Ty Lone sent the hometown crowd of 542 into a loud cheer with his first of the year, unassisted, at 24 seconds of the second for a three-goal bulge.
Easton Debray and Ben Hackl scored power play markers at 11:28 and 15:34 respectively to pull the visitors to within one. Roby’s power play score at 2:00 of the third, and his game winner at 8:09 gave Dryden the win.
The Ice Dogs went 3-8 with the man advantage. Sioux Lookout was 1-5.
Zac MacDonald collected the win net for Dryden, in relief of Eric Clark. Jake Manners handled 41 of 45 shots.
Both teams were assessed 32 penalty minutes.
Wisconsin 4 @ Dryden 6, Sunday Nov. 13
The Dryden Ice Dogs defeated Wisconsin 6-4 in Dryden before 250 fans.
Cody Steinert scored his first goal of the season, unassisted at 2:42 for a 1-0 Dryden lead. Ryder McMillen registered is 12th of the campaign to tie it early in the second. That’s as close road-weary Wisconsin would come. James Hooton and Jordan Pfoh would both score their eighth goals in the second for a 3-1 Dryden lead.
The teams traded three goals apiece in the third. Kyle Siiter notched his first of the year for Wisconsin. Bryce Benfield nailed his 7th for Dryden. Caden Sutter scored 12 seconds later to keep it close for the Lumberjacks. Ty Moore and Rhys Maksimow tallied for Dryden to create a three-goal margin. Shane Cassin got his first of the year at 19:05 to round out the scoring.
Connor Hacker had three assists for Wisconsin and Axel Wyatt had a pair of assists.
Hooton added a helper for a two-point night for Dryden.
Zac MacDonald stopped 30 of 34 to help push Dryden into second place with a 10-4-0 record. Emmett Doherty handled 28 of 34 in a losing cause. Wisconsin is now winless in eight. The Lumberjacks (5-12-2) aren’t losing by much. They haven’t lost a game by more than three since the season began.
Wisconsin was 0-6 on the power play. Dryden was 0-3. Dryden took 11 minor penalties to Wisconsin’s three.