Fighting Walleye Ground Bombers
For the second night in a row the Kam River Fighting Walleye dominated the score sheet. Despite a late push by the Bombers, the Walleye take four points home from a weekend in Sioux Lookout.
In a similar fashion to the previous night, the game was fast-paced right out of the gate. The Walleye were first to score again. Jett Mintenko was allowed to skate in from the sidewall and popped a backhand shot past the glove of Matthew Spencer-Dahl at 13:27. The Bombers’ Sam Delaquis scored the first home team goal of the weekend, smacking a loose puck in the slot past Ashton Sadauskas at 14:07. Evan Lachimea, in his first game back with the Walleye, restored the one goal lead just 14 seconds later. Shots in the first period were balanced with 15 for the Bombers and 13 for the Walleye.
Kam River added two more goals in the second period. Amar Powar took a centring feed from Zach Baumann and his one-timer beat the Sioux Lookout goalie low on the blocker side. Edwin Liang scored the Walleye’s forth goal on a 5on3 powerplay, assisted by Jett Mintenko and Easton Debray. Shots were even with 11 for each team, but the Bombers were starting to show some fatigue and frustration.
Jett Mintenko scored his second of the night at the 8:26 mark of the third. The Bombers continued to press hard for the remainder of the period. A powerplay goal from Cedrik Robidoux at 13:10 put the Bombers within three goals with plenty of time remaining on the clock. At 14:16 Bombers Captain, Jonah Smith scored to make it 5-3 assisted by Peter Zilkalns and goaltender Matthew Spencer-Dahl. The comeback attempt by the Bombers was thwarted by the Walleye, who held on for a 5-3 victory.
Final shots on goal were 35 for the Walleye and 41 for the Bombers. The Bombers scored once in 10 power play attempts white the Walleye were able to get two goals in nine attempts with the man-advantage. The third star of the game was Evan Lachimea. Cedrik Robidoux, who was very solid all game and scored the second Bombers goal was the second star. Jett Mintenko’s two gaols and one assist earned him the game’s first star.
The Bombers and Walleye trade places in the SIJHL standings with the Walleye now in fourth place with 10 points. However, the race is pretty tight early in the season with only three points separating first and fifth place teams in the league. The Fighting Walleye will visit the Gardens to face the Thunder Bay North Stars next weekend. The Bombers continue their homestand at the Hangar against the Fort Frances Lakers on Friday and Saturday night.