By Mike Ebbeling
Dryden, ON – The Dryden GM Ice Dogs are headed to the Final 4 in the SIJHL Playoffs thanks in part to special teams.
The home team attacked early and often throwing bodies and pucks at starting goalie Brenden Stroble but the 20-year-old didn’t bend keeping the Lakers in it with several strong saves. The Ice Dogs continued to pressure forcing two Fort Frances penalties resulting in the first two goals of the game. It started with Bryce Benefield, returning to the lineup after missing some time and playing in his first 2023 playoff game. Jack Cullen made an amazing play at the blueline to keep the play alive moved in and found the 6’5 power forward who buried it past Stroble at the 9:00 mark of the first period. Dryden GM wouldn’t let up and their aggressiveness resulted in a Darnell Kempf tripping penalty. With 1:32 to play the Ice Dogs pounced on a Fort Frances faceoff win. Bryce Benefield shoved Blake Ferris off the puck and found a wide-open McLaren Paulsen who scored his third of the postseason on his 19th birthday. The Lakers would get some life late in the first frame with Jack Wood wide open in the slot area however his shot high was turned aside by Eric Clark. Shots in the first would end up being 18-10 in favour of Dryden GM.
The Lakers would turn it around in the second as they started pressuring and providing chances on bEric Clark. Finally, the hard work paid off with a gritty, great individual effort by Brady Wicklund. At 8:58 the centreman won the faceoff, moved ahead, falling to the ice, but he stayed with it got up and beat Eric Clark high to close the gap to 2-1. The momentum would shift in the second half as the Lakers uncharateristiclly fell into penalty trouble. With Ryker Watt in the penalty box for a slash, the Ice Dogs powerplay went back to work. A shifty Max Roby got away on the near wing and took an akward angle shot, however the puck hit Stroble high and landed right to a wide-open Ben Hackl who easily recorded his second goal of the playoffs with 2:20 to play. An upset Fort Frances squad was assessed a two-minute bench minor after the play and a following Branden Boress tripping penalty landed Dryden GM a two-man advantage. The number one powerplay unit in the league quickly went to work as Max Roby did it again finding Landen Stromme open on the far wing, and he fired home his fourth goal. Ben Hackl would earn a second assist. The Ice Dogs didn’t let up 5-4 with numerous chances including Stoble robbing defenceman Jack Cullen but the period would end 4-1. Shots in the second were 9-5 Ice Dogs.
The Ice Dogs got an early jump on the Lakers to start the third as James Hooton would accept a feed from Bryce Benefield and fired it home only 1:19 into the period. Fort Frances would stay in the game thanks to a powerplay as Dylan Wedward found a wide-open Brady Krentz on the near wing and he made no mistake to make it a 5-2 contest. Kevin Bond recorded the second assist. However, the wheels would fall off after that erasing any hope of a comeback and a Game 6 back in Fort Frances. After taking a pass from Jordan Pfoh, Sebastiano Biagi skated all the way from the blueline across the ice and in tight and put the puck over the shoulder of Stroble, who was double screened, to make it 6-2. One minute and 10 seconds later at 16:25 Branden Boress coughed up the puck in front of his own net giving James Hooton a gift as he deeked out the goalie to add to the lead. Another sloppy turnover deep resulted in a 2-0 in-close and shorthanded opportunity. James Hooton passed it over to Bryce Benefield who tapped it in to make it 8-2. That was the second shorthanded goal of the playoffs for the Ice Dogs. They would add one later in the game as McLaren Paulsen came out of the penalty box and took a pass from Easton Debray and broke away one-on-one with Stroble. He made no mistake making it a 9-2 final. Dryden would severely outshoot the Lakers for the fifth straight game finishing with a 45-23 advantage. The dominating performance would cap off a 4-1 series win for Dryden GM against the upstart Fort Frances Lakers and a berth into the Bill Salonen Cup Semi-Final.
3 Stars
James Hooton (DRY): 2 goals, 2 assists
Bryce Benefield (DRY) 2 goals, 2 assists
McLaren Paulson (DRY) 2 goals