Ice Dogs Strike First in the Battle of Highway 72

By James Brohm

Sioux Lookout, ON – There will be 467 tired hockey fans checking in for work and school the morning after being treated to a barnburner at the Hangar on a Wednesday night. The game featured 13 goals including the winner in a brief 3 on 3 overtime period.

The first period was cautious for the Bombers and Ice Dogs. Both squads were definitely feeling out their opponents of the first 20 minutes. Dryden’s Elias Eisenbarth opened up the scoring at 14:38 with a tip-in on a seemingly harmless play. The Bombers responded on the power play when Blake Burke redirected a Nolan Palmer point shot with just over a minute to go in the first stanza. There weren’t a lot of whistles in the period with just one minor penalty to Dryden.

The pace of the game definitely picked up in the second period. At 33 seconds in Bombers’ captain Nolan Palmer ripped another point shot, this time going straight in and tickling the twine. Kaden Bandura scored his first of the season on a rebound at 2:29. Bombers’ goal leader, Owen Riffel wasted no time on the power play scoring just 7 seconds into the man advantage to regain the lead, 3-2. Tempers flared and at 14:56 and a scrum resulted in a 2-minute minor and a 10-minute major penalty to each team. With just under one minute to go in the frame, the Ice Dogs capitalized on some sustained pressure in the offensive zone and tied the game at three on a goal by McLaren Paulson.

The Bombers started the third period on the powerplay and took only 25 seconds for the Burke to Burke connection to work its magic. A pass from Connor to his twin Blake out from gave the Bombers the lead once again. Dryden’s captain, Geoff Bjarnason tied the game at 4-4 on the power play at 2:42. Owen Riffel picked up his league-leading 14th goal of the season on a miscue by Ice Dogs goalie, Michael O’Sullivan behind the net with a nice wraparound into the the vacant net at 5:11. Elias Eisenbarth got his second of the game at 11:23, shoveling the puck up and over the glove of Jack Osmond. Dryden took their second lead in the game on a bullet from Eli Antione to bring the score to 6-5. In true Battle of 72 fashion, the game would once again be tied, this time with Sioux Lookout on the power play, under 2 minutes left in regulation. They pulled the goalie for the extra attacker. The gamble paid off when Connor Burke took a cross-ice feed from his twin and pounded home the game-tying goal.

The game would need a dose of 3 on 3 sudden death overtime. With plenty of ice to work with, both teams had chances early to end the game. A quick-up pass from Sebastiano Biagi to Carson Devine created a 2 on 0 situation for the Ice Dogs and Max Roby tapped in a rebound to end the game.

Jack Osmond stopped 39 of 46 shots in net for the Bombers. Ice Dogs’ netminder, Michael O’Sullivan wasn’t as busy but made 38 saves for the win. Eli Antione was the game’s third start with 2 goals and an assist. Blake Burke was awarded second start for his four point performance and the overtime winner, Max Roby was the first star.

The Bombers remain in first place with 9 points on the season but the Ice Dogs inch closer with the win and are now only a single point behind in second place. Sioux Lookout will host the expansion Kenora Devil’s Gap Islanders on Saturday. Dryden will travel to play Friday and Saturday against Thunder Bay, the team that knocked them out in the second round of the playoffs last season.