Dryden’s lead atop the SIJHL is now a single point. Idle Kam River picked up four points in forfeit wins over Kenora. The Islanders have paused operations for the remainder of the 2024-25 season. The ‘Dogs picked up a single weekend point against the Bombers last week.
The latest CJHL rankings has Dryden 18th and Kam River 20th in their February 3rd release.
Sioux Lookout and Thunder Bay are a mere four points off the pace.
There’s still plenty to like in the Dryden camp. Six of their players are in the top-20. Max Roby and McLaren Paulsen sit at 51 and 50 points respectively. Paulsen has not played since December 21st. Payton Hu is 9th in league scoring with 46 points. Carson Devine, 45, Eli Antoine, 40, and Emmanuel Nkombou, 35, round out the other three. Nkombou has 144 of Dryden’s league-leading 859 penalty minutes.
Kellan Mooney is near the league leaders in goaltending wins (15), GAA (2.35) and SV% (.927).
The Ice Dogs are second in PP% (28.0) and fourth in PK% (82.4).
Kam River is undefeated in their last five games.
Their top line of Daxton Lang, Jett Mintenko and Kaden Goodwin are one, two and seventh in league scoring at 66, 63 and 48 points respectively. Carter Poddubny, 29 points, and defenceman Edwin Liang, 26 points, are next in line.
Ashton Sadauskas leads the league in wins with 17 and minutes played, 1,551. Sam Keene is 6-0-0 as a Walleye.
Kam River’s PP is 26.3% and their PK is 82.8%.
Sioux Lookout is fresh off a three-point weekend against Dryden and hasn’t lost in regulation in nine straight games.
Alex Lucas hit 50 points over the weekend. Jonah Smith has 44 points. Owen Cotter, 33, and Tait Howell, 29, are next.
Matthew Ofukany’s 2.25 GAA is league-leading. His 15 wins and .927 SV% are among the leaders. Matthew Spencer-Dahl’s 9-6-1/2.70/.921 slash line is also impressive. Both Spencer-Dahl and Ofukany have over 1,000 minutes in net.
The Bombers have a 16.4% PP and a number two 83.2% PK.
Thunder Bay took three of four possible points in Ironwood over the weekend to keep pace with the leaders.
Forward Tyler Jordan is on fire. His five goals in Michigan has him leading the SIJHL in goals with 29. Jarred Feist has six goals in his seven games as a North Star. Defenceman Tag Bryson leads the SIJHL in assists with 45. Evan Simeoni and Beau Helmeczi, 44 points each, Marcellus Francis, 42, and Alex Remenda, 39 points, are in the top-20.
Keenan Marks is carrying the freight in net with a 10-7-2 record in 1,230 minutes. Liam Letters is undefeated in regulation (3-0-1), with a 2.47 GAA and .932 SV% in 243 minutes.
Thunder Bay’s 89.0% PK is number one, and the 25.5% PP is fourth.
Fort Frances sits in fifth place, ten points behind Thunder Bay, three ahead of Red Lake. The Lakers are 5-5-0 in their last 10.
Brady Krentz is 10th in league scoring with 19 goals, 26 assists and 45 points. Jack Wood, 30, Pierce Gouin, 27, Tie Schumacher, 26, and Evan Kabel are in the top-40.
Gunner Paradis is 10-5-0 with a 2.58 GAA and .933 SV%. He’s at exactly 1,000 minutes on the year. Nolan Koethler is 7-9-1 in 1,254 minutes. The duo joins Sioux Lookout’s tandem as the only 1,000 minute men.
The Lakers continue to lead the SI in PP% with a 29.3% rate. Their penalty kill is 78.0%.
Red Lake is 5-3-2 in their last 10. Sitting at exactly .500 with 122 goals for and 124 goals against, the Miners are undefeated in their last three.
Nathan Dann has 22 goals and 19 assists with 41 points. Rookie Quinn Szpak has 32 points. Defenceman Bryson Carlyle has 25. Gabe Tanton, Kyle Pawlick and Euan Morrison have 22, 21 and 20 points respectively.
In net, rookie Koen Webber is 9-6-1 with a 3.03 SV% and .910 SV%. Nick Peters is 1-3-1.
The Miners special teams are 18.2% on the PP and 77.0% on the PK.
Ironwood hasn’t recorded a regulation win in seven games. They did have a spirited performance against Thunder Bay on Friday, gaining a 5-5 tie.
Marshall Thomas has 43 points on 17 goals and 26 assists. Matteo Salvatore, 27, rookie Aidan Charron, 24, Collin Baker, 24, defenceman Josh Gulden, 23, and rookie Chase Krtanjek, 21 are 20-point men.
Trent Boryszczuk is 6-9-1 in net, with a 3.64 GAA and .924 SV%.
Kole Kronstedt leads the team with 1,273 net minutes.
Ironwood’s PP is 20.9% and their PK is 63.8%. The Lumberjacks travel to Dryden Tuesday and entertain Kam River on the weekend for a pair.
 | AT RED LAKE MINERS |  | ||
| Red Lake closed to within two points of Fort Frances with a convincing 5-0 win at Cochenour Arena. Nathan Dann had two goals and an assist to lead the way offensively for the surging Miners. Koen Webber recorded a 19-save shutout, raising his record to 8-6-1, lowering his goals against to 3.03 and bumping his save percentage to .910. Webber has 11 straight games with a SV% north of .900. The Miners struck for three quick ones before the game was five minutes old. Euan Morrison, Kai Hughes and Kayne Pawlick on a power play, scored at 1:17, 1:54 and 4:23 respectively. Morrison's ripped in his seventh, Hughes his seventh, on the first two shots of the game. Pawlick redirected Quinn Szpak's shot for his seventh as well. The Lakers kept it at 3-0 until the third period. Nathan Dann struck for his 20th and 21st to round out the scoring. Dann sniped in a blocker side shot at 1:14, and was wide open in the slot at 9:42 on a Miners' power play. Jager Marshall and Noah Tenney grabbed the assists. Nolan Koethler stopped 22 of 27 in the loss. The game was a physical affair. Fort Frances was assessed 36 of 68 penalty minutes. Red Lake was 2-4 on the power play while killing off eight Laker power play opportunities. Morrison added an assist for Red Lake. |
||||
| Brady Krentz scored at 2:27 of overtime as Fort Frances defeated Red Lake 3-2. Gunner Paradis saved 37 of 39 shots. The Lakers increased their slim lead over the Miners to three points. Nathan Dann notched his 22nd goal of the year with a low blocker side strike at 8:58 of the first for a 1-0 Red Lake lead. Lakers' forward Landon Lowes tied the contest late in the frame, scoring a shorthanded goal after a Ian Ness outlet pass hit him in full stride. Pierce Gouin put the Lakers ahead midway through the second, jamming in a loose puck on Nick Peters' doorstep. Bryson Carlyle tied the game at 12:55 of the third, banging in a puck from close range on a Justin Gelderland rebound. The Miners took a penalty early in the overtime session. With 12 seconds left on the resulting Lakers' power play Krentz snapped one over the glove of Peters for the game winner--his 19th of the year. Krentz also added an assist earlier in the match. Paradis improved to 10-5-0, with a 2.58 goals against average and .933 save percentage. Peters stopped 27 of 30 and saw his record fall to 1-3-1. The Lakers took 12 of 18 penalty minutes assessed. Their power play was 1-3 while Red Lake came up empty on six opportunities. |
||||
 | AT IRONWOOD LUMBERJACKS |  | ||
| Tyler Jordan scored four goals for Thunder Bay and Kole Kronstedt made five crucial saves in the last minute of overtime for Ironwood, as the two teams battled to a 5-5 draw before 232 fans at the Pat O'Donnell Civic Center. Ironwood's Chase Krtanjek opened the scoring at 2:50 of the opening frame, his first of two on the game. His point shot one-timer eluded Stars netminder Keenan Marks. Both offences ignited in a seven-goal second period. Jordan notched a natural hat trick to open the middle frame, scoring 24 seconds apart, and then went top shelf on Kronstedt at 5:26 on a North Stars' power play to complete the hatty. The Lumberjacks narrowed the lead to 3-2 when James Iahnke scored his first goal of the season backhanding one off a skate 1:08 later. Matthew Lysak restored Thunder Bay's two-goal lead 74 seconds later. Krtanjek and Collin Baker evened the score at 4-4 later in the period. Aidan Charron's outlet pass sent Krtanjek in the clear at 10:04. Baker got his 11th on a tic tac toe power play goal. Jordan's fourth goal of the game--his league leading 28th--came on the Kronstedt's doorstep at 10:59 with Acoyen Fehr and Alex Remenda assisting. Matteo Salvatore's power play marker at 15:09, with Charron and Marshall Thomas assisting, sent the game into extra time. Ironwood took a minor penalty at 5:25 of overtime. Kronstedt stole the show, with a number of stops in the final minute. Final shots in overtime favoured the Stars 5-3. Marks stopped 41 of 46 while Kronstedt shunted aside 52 of 57. Remenda had three assists. Tag Bryson and Fehr had two assists in support of Jordan's big day. Salvatore added a helper and Thomas and Charron chipped in with two assists each for the Lumberjacks. Thunder Bay was 1-5 on the power play while Ironwood was 1-4. The Lumberjacks took 14 of 24 penalty minutes. |
||||
| Thunder Bay scored five unanswered second period goals to break open a 2-2 tie and defeat Ironwood 9-3 before 290 patrons. Jarred Feist had a hat trick, Evan Simeoni had one goal and three assists, Alex Remenda had two goals and an assist, Acoyen Fehr had one goal and two assists, and four North Stars--Max Buffone, Connor Larrett, Tag Bryson and Marcellus Francis--had two apples each. Will Porter had a goal and assist and Matteo Salvatore two assists to highlight the Ironwood attack. The game was tied 2-2 after a period. Collin Baker and Will Porter staked the home team to a 2-0 lead. Feist's fourth and fifth of the year evened the score. Simeoni, Easton Glousher, Fehr, Remenda and Feist hit the scoresheet in a 19-shot North Star second period. Simeoni's 17th was on the power play, Remenda's 17th was unassisted. Remenda and Jordan's league-leading 29th made it 9-2 by the five-minute mark of the third. Timothy Hanulik closed out the scoring with 18 seconds left in the game for Ironwood. Liam Letters improved his record to 3-0-1 stopping 28 of 31. Trent Boryszczuk faced 55 shots in the Lumberjacks' cage. Thunder Bay was 1-4 on the power play while shutting down three Ironwood power plays. A total of 11 minor penalties were called. Ironwood had six of them. Feist, younger brother of former North Star Colby Feist, now has six goals in his last five games. |
||||
 | AT SIOUX LOOKOUT BOMBERS |  | ||
| Playoff-style hockey arrived in Sioux Lookout. Visiting Dryden and the Bombers battled to an entertaining 1-1 draw before 388 patrons at the Hangar. Kellan Mooney stopped 36 of 37 in the Dryden cage and Matthew Ofukany saved 17 of 18 for the locals. Dryden has a three-point lead in the standings while Sioux Lookout is six points off the pace. After a scoreless first, Michael Casey's point shot at 18:42 of the second period on a Bomber power play found the mark. Brodie Wood collected his 11th assist and Alex Lucas his 25th helper on Casey's fourth goal of the year. Eli Antoine tied the game with his 21st at 10:27 of the third. Antoine unleashed a bullet on a Dryden power play. Nicholas McCallen and Karson Kerbes assisted. Sioux Lookout outshot Dryden in the overtime session with Owen Cotter and Kaden Veller having the best chances. Dryden's Max Roby fired off a dangerous shot in the dying seconds to no avail. A total of 50 penalty minutes were flagged, with 32 minutes worth occurring in a major dust-up at 18:53 of the second period. Dryden was 1-4 with the man advantage while Sioux Lookout was 1-5. |
||||
| The reigning SIJHL champion Bombers pulled one out of the fire, scoring four unanswered third period goals to defeat the Ice Dogs 4-3 before 382 fans. Sage Roberts scored the game winner at 16:23 of the third and Matthew Spencer-Dahl outdueled Kellan Mooney for the goaltending win, upping his record to 9-6-1. Sioux Lookout outshot the Ice Dogs 41-32. After a scoreless first, Dryden scored three in the second period. Kelby Diehl scored his first of two from point blank range at 1:50. Max Roby sniped his 24th at 17:19 and Diehl poked in Payton Hu's pass for his 6th of the year at 19:58 for a 3-0 Ice Dogs' lead. With Mooney in net and Dryden up by three the odds were stacked against the Bombers. Owen Cotter changed the tone with a deflection of Tait Howell's point shot at 6:21 of the third. His 11th came on a Bombers' power play. Owen Riffel's 11th came 62 seconds later. He deposited a rebound past Mooney to narrow the lead to one. Kaden Veller tied the game at 10:27, his wrister glove side from the high slot was his 10th of the year. Roberts' deflection of a Veller point shot gave the Bombers' their first lead of the game at 16:23. Mooney was pulled for an extra attacker with 1:05 left, but the 'Dogs couldn't muster much of an attack. Dryden's loss and Kam River's two forfeited weekend wins over Kenora have the Walleye a point back in the standings. Sioux Lookout upped their point total to 52, tied with Thunder Bay, four points behind Ice Dogs. Brodie Wood had two assists for Sioux Lookout. Hu and Rylan Oatman had two assists each for Dryden. Dryden was 1-2 on the power play while Sioux Lookout was 1-9. The Ice Dogs took 46 penalty minutes to Sioux Lookout's eight. |
||||