Dryden, Kam River, Sioux Lookout and Thunder Bay swept their weekend games as the SIJHL completed Week 16. The regular season is now 63 per cent complete.
Dryden reached 50 points on the year with two wins against Ironwood. They’re four points ahead of Kam River, with two games in hand. The Ice Dogs have an eight game points streak. McLaren Paulsen’s 50 points leads the team in scoring. Max Roby, Carson Devine and Payton Hu are seven through nine in the top 10. Eli Antoine and Emmanuel Nkombou are in the top 20. Kellan Mooney leads all SIJHL netminders with a 2.22 goals against average.
Kam River’s three wins against Red Lake has them in second place with 46 points, three ahead of Sioux Lookout. The Walleye received an “honorable mention” in the CJHL rankings released January 13th. Daxton Lang’s 25 goals, 38 assists and 63 points all lead the league. Jett Mintenko’s 59 points are second. Kaden Goodwin’s productive weekend (11 points) has him in sixth place with 46 points. Ashton Sadauskas is 16-7-0 with 1,366 minutes between the pipes Sadauskas grabbed two wins. Sam Keene grabbed the Saturday ‘W’.
Sioux Lookout is three points behind Kam River and a point ahead of Thunder Bay. The Bombers are on a four-game winning streak. Alex Lucas is fourth in league scoring with 47 points (24 goals). Jonah Smith’s 36 points are second. Matthew Ofukany is 13-3-0, with a 2.56 GAA and .913 SV%. Matthew Spencer-Dahl is 7-6-1 with a 2.73/.920 slash line. The Bombers 83.0% penalty kill is second in the league.
Thunder Bay’s five-game win streak will be put to the test in Week 17. The Stars have a Tuesday road tilt against Dryden and then entertain Kam River for a weekend pair at the Gardens. Tyler Jordan leads the team with 46 points (21 goals). Beau Helmeczi, Evan Simeoni, Marcellus Francis, Tag Bryson and Alex Remenda are all in the top 20. Keenan Marks will likely be prominent between the pipes. He’s 8-5-2/2.79/.918 on the year. Rochester, NY native Liam Letters won his Saturday night start. The Stars top-flight penalty kill fell to 89.6% on the year. Though in fourth place, Thunder Bay’s .700 winning percentage is second best in the league.
The Lakers took two on the chin against the Stars. Fort Frances’ 30.8% power play leads the league. Brady Krentz has 41 points to lead the squad in production. Gunner Paradis is 7-4-0 on the year, with a 2.71 GAA and .928 SV%. Rookie Nolan Koethler is 7-8-1/3.52/.907.
Red Lake dropped to 12-16-3 on the year, and are now seven points behind the Lakers. Their goal differential dipped into minus territory (minus-5) with three losses against the Walleye. The Miners are on a seven-game slide. Nathan Dann’s 34 points has him in 17th place in league scoring. Rookie Koen Webber is 8-6-1/3.23/.907 between the pipes.
Ironwood has yet to hit 100 team goals on the year. Their power play ranks fourth in the league at 22.8%, however. Marshall Thomas has 39 points to lead the team in scoring. Mid-season acquisition Trent Boryszczuk is 6-6-1 with a 2.95 goals against and a sparkling .937 save percentage (tops in the league). Workhorse Kole Kronstedt is one of four goaltenders over 1,000 minutes played.
Kenora’s woes continue. The Islanders are on a nine-game slide. Josh Boyko leads the team in scoring with 16 points in 22 games, followed by Tallen Caron’s 13. Konnor Sapp has 105 penalty minutes to lead the team in that category. Kenora’s 725 penalty minutes in 31 games lead the SIJHL.
Week 17 will feature nine games. Kenora and Red Lake will tangle in a home-and-home series, as will Fort Frances and Dryden. Ironwood travels to Sioux Lookout for a pair. Thunder Bay will be front and centre of three marquee match-ups. They travel to Dryden for a Tuesday tilt, and host the Walleye at home for a Friday/Saturday set-to.
 | AT KAM RIVER FIGHTING WALLEYE |  | ||
| Kam River pumped in three unanswered third period goals and Ashton Sadauskas stopped 38 of 39 shots as the Fighting Walleye ushered in the new year with a 4-1 win over visiting Red Lake. Kayne Pawlick opened the scoring midway through the first, beating Sadauskas high blocker side for the Miners lone lead of the game. Kaden Goodwin intercepted a clearing pass and scored unassisted less than two minutes later to tie it up. Koen Webber and Sadauskas shunted aside 33 combined shots taken in the second frame. Kam River's firepower roared into action in the third period. Callum Halls cashed a rebound at 7:06 for the game winner. Jett Mintenko teed up a loose puck at 8:59 for his 20th on a Walleye power play, and Daxton Lang added more insurance with two minutes left. The three-goal lead was enough to keep Webber in the net for the final countdown. Goodwin led all players with three points, while Mintenko and Lang added assists. The SIJHL's top line continued to add to their point totals. Lang leads the league in points with 58. Mintenko has 56 and Goodwin 42. Red Lake captain Matthew MacPherson played in his 100th career regular season game, the 16th Miner to hit the century mark. Webber saw his record drop to 6-6-1 with a 42-save effort. Sadauskas collected his league-leading 15th win. The Miners were 0-2 with the man advantage. The Walleye finished 1-3. The 342 fans in attendance saw the hometown boys maintain a one-point lead over Sioux Lookout for second place. |
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| Gage Hordy recorded his first goal, Sam Keene ran his personal Kam River winning streak to five, and the Daxton Lang/Jett Mintenko/Kaden Goodwin line was in fine form as usual as the Fighting Walleye took game two of the three-game set with a 5-2 win before 503 fans at Norwest Arena. Game three is a Sunday afternoon tilt. Hordy opened the scoring at 2:54 of the first, his high point shot eluding Nick Peters glove side. Goodwin doubled the lead with a backhander under the bar at 8:07. Red Lake scored two power play goals in the second period goals to stay in the game. Kai Hughes registered his sixth of the year from the high slot to narrow the Kam lead to one. Callum Halls scored unassisted with a wrister glove side at 11:06 to restore the two-goal Walleye margin. Nathan Dann struck for his 18th at 14:28, pulling the trigger on a tic tac toe with Quinn Szpak and Gabe Tanton to tighten the score once again. Kam River took control in the third outshooting the Miners 13-6, scoring two to put the game away. Mintenko got his 21st at 5:29 with Goodwin and Lang assisting, and Lang's league-leading 25th at 11:18 sealed the victory. Lang's three points gives him 61 on the year. Mintenko is three points behind. Goodwin's three points gives him 45, good for sixth in league scoring. Keene stopped 20 of 22 for his fifth win with no defeats or ties with the Walleye. Peters, a 5-9. 182-lb native of Powell River, BC, stopped 25 of 30 in his Red Lake debut. |
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| Ashton Sadauskas stopped 31 of 32 and the Walleye scored three on the power play to defeat the Miners 6-1, sweeping the three-game weekend series. Edwin Liang had three assists (and may yet net a fourth upon video review), and former Miner and new acquire Jacob Lamoureux scored in his first Walleye game. Kam River skated to its third straight win and eighth victory in their last 10. Kaden Goodwin polished off a three-way passing play with Carter Nailen and Liang at 7:12 of the first on a Kam River power play to open the scoring. Nico Simeoni did a circle tour of the Red Lake net and fired in his fourth at 9:01 to double the lead. Liang fed him the puck but was not credited with an assist as of this writing. Five goals were scored in the second period--four by the Walleye--to close out the scoring. Lamoureux misfired on two first period breakaways but was flawless in front of Nick Peters after a cross ice pass from Sam Sargent, to give Kam River a 3-0 lead at 3:02. Bryson Carlyle corralled a loose puck on a Red Lake power play and beat Sadauskas to shave goal off the lead. Callum Halls got a piece of Caleb Labelle's point shot to restore the three-goal margin. Evan Lachimea deflected in his sixth goal, and Jett Mintenko's 22nd on a backhander at 16:02 finished off the scoring. The Walleye were 3-6 with the man advantage, elevating their power play success rate to 27.3% on the year. Red Lake was 1-7 with the extra man. A total of 66 penalty minutes were doled out. Kam River had 40 minutes in the bin. Daxton Lang had two assists giving him 63 points on the year. Sadauskas won his league-leading 16th game, lowering his goals against to 2.59 and raising his save percentage to .923. He was busy in the third as the Miners outshot Kam River 14-3 in the frame. Peters faced 29 shots in the Miners cage. Attendance on this snowy day was 427. |
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 | VS/AT SIOUX LOOKOUT BOMBERS |  | ||
| The Bombers overcame a 2-1 deficit with five straight goals to defeat the Islanders 6-2 at Bowman Electric Keewatin Memorial Arena in Kenora, ON. Alex Lucas paced Sioux Lookout with two goals and an assist, giving him 23 snipes and 21 helpers on the year. Matthew Ofukany improved his record to 7-4-0 with a 14-save effort. Ethan Beattie shouldered the loss for Kenora. He faced 58 shots. Lucas scored on a rebound at 17:21 of the first to break the ice for Sioux Lookout. Hunter Dingman tied the game 1:05 later, sneaking one through Ofukany's pads for his fifth of the year. The Islanders took a 2-1 lead at the five-minute mark of the second. Dhilon Paranjape capitalized on a strange bounce for his first of the year. Nathan Horbas collected his fourth assist on the play. Jonah Smith tied the game at 2-2 with a snipe from the high slot. Lucas and Owen Cotter scored 42 seconds apart late in the second to forge a 4-2 Bomber lead. Lucas connected on a one-timer on a feed from Brodie Wood. Cotter's sixth beat a downed Beattie at 16:38. Sioux Lookout added two more in the third. Brodie Wood scored from the doorstep. Ty Kirk fed a wide open Ty Lone for Lone's fourth of the year to close out the scoring. Brodie Wood added an assist, and Sage Roberts had two helpers to buoy the Bomber offence. |
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| Nine Bomber players scored two or more points as Sioux Lookout throttled Kenora 10-1 before 292 fans at the Hangar. The game was tied 1-1 through one period of play. Brodie Wood got his eighth at 16:10 for a 1-0 Bomber lead. Ayden Belanger replied with 45 seconds left in the frame--his first goal of the season. Sioux Lookout outshot Kenora 21-5 in the second and 23-14 in the third (58-24 overall), pouring in four goals in the second period and five more in the third. Wood's second of the game at 3:03, and Owen Cotter's first 51 seconds later got the ball rolling, giving the Bombers a 3-1 lead. Gursimar Mann and Alex Lucas made it 5-1 after two, chasing Islander starter Ethan Beattie. Beattie stopped 30 of 35. Ron Cailo came on to weather the third period onslaught. Ty Kirk, Jonah Smith, Kaden Veller, Sage Roberts on a Bomber power play, and Cotter scored in the frame. Roberts and Cotter struck in the final minute of play. Wood and Cotter had two goals each, Lucas and Roberts added two assists each, Mann had an assist, Ashton Cuvelier and Tait Howell had three assists, and Ty Lone had two helpers for the Bombers. Matthew Spencer-Dahl stopped 23 of 24 for his sixth win of the year. |
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 | AT THUNDER BAY NORTH STARS |  | ||
| Beau Helmeczi and Tyler Jordan scored two goals each, Marcellus Frances had three points, and Keenan Marks handled 28 of 29 shots as the Stars kept pace in the SIJHL standings with a convincing 7-1 win over Fort Frances. Evan Simeoni scored his 16th unassisted at 4:03, Helmeczi's hard wrister on a Thunder Bay power play at 17:15 and Jordan's 20th 35 seconds later had the Stars up 3-0 through 20 minutes. Eric Sheriff scored on a wrist shot from distance at 3:29 and Francis drilled his 16th 10 ticks later to put the Stars up five-zip. Nolan Koethler came on in relief for Gunner Paradis for the Miners. The Lakers broke Marks' shutout bid at 7:01 of the second. Carter Deschamps got his 10th of the year on a Fort Frances power play. Thunder Bay's penalty kill dropped below 90 per cent for the first time this season on the play. Jordan added his second of the game at 12:58 of the middle session, and Helmeczi's 14th at 2:12 of the third closed out the scoring. Only 28 penalty minutes were assessed in total--including 12 minutes netted in a first period skirmish. Both teams were 1-3 with the man advantage. Paradis had nine saves on 14 shots, while Koethler stopped 16 of 18 for the Lakers. Marks saw his record climb to 8-5-2. Thunder Bay is two points out of second place and one out point of third with two games in hand over both Kam River and Sioux Lookout. The win also stretched their lead over the Lakers to six points. A crowd of 200 was on hand. |
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| Liam Letters stopped 35 shots in his North Stars debut, and Marcellus Frances scored a pair as Thunder Bay defeated Fort Frances 5-2 to keep pace in the tight SIJHL standings. The 4th place Stars also opened up an eight-point bulge between themselves and the 5th place Lakers. Gavin Simon tucked home a loose puck to give the visitors an early 1-0 lead with a delayed Thunder Bay penalty in the offing. The Stars returned the favour 1:11 later, when Peter Forester's backhander beat Nolan Koethler from a tough angle with a Lakers delayed penalty about to be called. The Stars took control of the contest in the second period. A spin-around shot from Kendrick Marshall put the Stars up 2-1 at 4:34. Chance Loke's pass put Matthew Lysak in the clear 1:21 later for a 3-1 lead. Francis' snipe on a 2-on-1 with Matthew Simeoni at 11:30 made it a three-goal margin. Francis' second goal came at 38 seconds of the third on another 2-on-1. The shifty winger hesitated then fired in a low glove snipe for his 17th for 5-1 Thunder Bay lead. Gavin Simon scored for Fort Frances with a minute left to complete the scoring. Four of the five minor penalties called in the game were called after Simon's goal. The Stars are on a five-game winning streak, 7-2-1 in their last 10. The Lakers went scoreless in their lone power play chance, while the Stars had no opportunities. Attendance was 379. |
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 | AT IRONWOOD LUMBERJACKS |  | ||
| Dryden struck for four consecutive second period goals after a scoreless first frame, holding on to defeat the Ironwood Lumberjacks 4-2 before 285 fans in Ironwood, MI. Eli Antoine scored a pair for the winners, and Kellan Mooney saved 26 for his 14th victory in net. The Ice Dogs pelted Ironwood starter Trent Boryszczuk with 41 shots through two periods. Antoine fought off a check, skated into prime scoring territory and beat Boryszczuk at 2:39 of the second to open the scoring. The Ice Dogs scored three quick ones in a 1:44 span to open up a 4-0 lead. Rylan Oatman scored his eighth on an Ice Dogs power play at 7:49. Antoine's 16th at 8:23 followed, and Carson Devine's power play wrister at 9:33 completed the barrage. Collin Baker went over Mooney's shoulder at 12:38 of the middle frame to narrow the gap to three. Aidan Charron tipped Matteo Salvatore's point shot at 8:41 of the third on a Lumberjacks' power play to close out the scoring. Oatman also had an assist for Dryden. Baker added an assist and Salvatore had two helpers to lead the Ironwood attack. Boryszczuk saw his record drop to 6-6-1 despite having a .938 save percentage through his 772 minutes of net time this year. He faced 51 shots in this one. |
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| Dryden broke open a 2-2 game with five third period goals to defeat Ironwood 7-2 before 345 fans at the Pat O'Donnell Civic Centre. Eli Antoine registered a hat trick, Rylan Oatman had two goals and an assist, and Emmanuel Nkombou and Jordan Wales had three assists each as the Ice Dogs swept the Lumberjacks to maintain a six-point lead atop the SIJHL standings. The CJHL rankings, released Monday, place Dryden 11th. The Lumberjacks had the home crowd buzzing, opening up a two-goal first period lead. Collin Baker snapped home a power play marker under the bar at 12:19, and Marshall Braunscheidel fired in a rebound at 15:51 for his fourth of the year. Antoine's first of the game with 22 seconds left in the period closed the gap to 2-1. Antoine had the lone second period tally, getting his 18th at 16:51 to tie the game. Dryden forged a three-goal lead by 3:06 of the third, scoring three in a 1:34 span. Oatman skated into the slot area uncontested at 1:32 to give the 'Dogs the lead. Adan Zimmerman's backhander five-hole at 2:58 followed, and Oatman's 10th of the year eight seconds later completed the blitzkrieg. Antoine's hat trick goal came at 8:15, giving his 19 on the year. Hudson Gagne got his first of the year with less than a minute remaining to close out the scoring. Five players were involved in a second period dust-up that netted 42 of the 50 penalty minutes called. Ironwood was 1-4 on the power play while killing off both Dryden opportunities. Dryden outshot Ironwood 64-27 overall, with 29 shots coming Kronstedt's way in the pivotal third period. Noah Davis made 25 stops for his first win as an Ice Dog. Davis, a deadline acquisition, played last year for Red Lake. |
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