SIJHL Week 19 Review

By Gary Moskalyk

Dryden 7 @ Wisconsin 4, Tue Feb 7: Dryden 5 @ Wisconsin, 1 Wed Feb 8

Derek Koivisto had a four-point night and Dryden overcame a 3-0 first period deficit with six second period goals to defeat Wisconsin 7-4. Zac MacDonald came on in relief of Eric Clark at the beginning of the second for Dryden. The high-powered Ice Dog offence fired 23 shots in the second frame to take control. 

The win is Dryden’s 8th in a row. The defeat ended the Lumberjacks modest three-game undefeated streak.

Cooper McClure, Ryder McMillen and Dylan Olsen had the home team in front 3-0 after one. McMillen’s 24th on a Wisconsin powerplay tied him for the league lead in goals. 

Koivisto’s spree began at 1:52 of the second. He deposited a rebound past Kyler Lowden for his 4th of the year. McLaren Paulsen scored from the slot at 5:05 to pull the Dogs to within one. Brady Frattinger tied the game at 6:28 on a breakaway and put Dryden ahead at 7:44 with his 16th on the powerplay.

Koivisto’s 5th goal of the year, unassisted, put the Ice Dogs up by two, and Kaden Bandura completed the uprising at 12:48 with his 5th.

Cooper McClure, twin brother of Connor, scored his 4th at 15:36 of the second to make pull Wisconsin within two. Cooper has also five assists in his five games.

Tyler Earl scored at 2:43 of the third–Koivisto collected his second assist of the game on the play–to wrap up the scoring. 

MacDonald picked up his 8th win against two losses and lowered his GAA to 2.68 with a 24-save effort. Kyler Lowden took the loss in the ‘Jacks net, stopping 38 of 45.

The Ice Dogs powerplay was 2-4. Wisconsin was 2-6. Only 10 minor penalties were called.

In Wednesday’s game Brady Frattinger continued his hot hand with two goals, Ben Hackl had a goal and two helpers, and Zac MacDonald stopped 18 of 19 for his 9th win as the Dryden Ice Dogs defeated the Wisconsin Lumberjacks 5-1.

The Ice Dogs are humming along on a nine-game heater. They’re four points back of first place Kam River.

Kaden Bandura scored at 10:52 of the first to get Dryden on the board. Ryder McMillen replied for Wisconsin at 5:22 of the second. McMillen’s 25 goals lead the league. 

Ben Hackl’s shorthanded marker 29 seconds later was the turning point. Hackl took advantage of a Wisconsin giveaway, going bar down on William Forrester as the Dogs took a 2-1 lead heading into the third. 

Frattinger notched Dryden’s first two goals of the final frame, and James Hooton scored number 22 at 9:13, 61 seconds later, to polish off the scoring. Frattinger’s second goal on the powerplay is his 18th on the campaign.

Bandura added an assist. Ryland Maier had two helpers to aid the Dryden cause.

Forrester faced 42 Dryden shots. The Ice Dogs allowed seven, seven and five shots over the three periods.

Dryden drew two minor penalties and Wisconsin four in a lightly played game.

Thunder Bay 2 @ Kam River 5, Wed Feb 8

 Josh Pufahl scored an unassisted shorthanded goal at 12:46 of the second period and Riley Borody notched his 5th of the season 42 seconds later as the Kam River Fighting Walleye broke open a 1-1 game and defeated the Thunder Bay North Stars 5-2 before a Norwest crown of 470.

Kam River threw 51 shots at Keenan Marks, while Eric Vanska picked up win number 21 with a 32-save effort.

Daxton Lang fired his 4th into wide open Thunder Bay net after a rebound set him up for the easy conversion. Jamie Fuchs replied at 17:19, picking up his own rebound from tight quarters for his 7th.

Pufahl went glove side on Marks after picking off a pass to give Kam River a 2-1 edge. Riley Borody deflected a point shot from in close to give the hometown team a 3-1 lead.

Edison Weeks narrowed the score with his 18th at 23 seconds of the third. Max Leduc’s 11th put the Walleye up 4-2 at 4:13.

Thunder Bay took 12 minutes in penalties from the halfway point of the third to preclude any plausible comeback. Kyle Lamoureux’ 2nd of the campaign on a powerplay salted the win at 15:11.

Jack Cook and Ryan Doucette had two assists each for Kam River. Weeks added an assist.

Kam River’s powerplay was 1-4. Thunder Bay was shut down in four chances.

Thunder Bay took 12 of 20 penalty minutes called.

Sioux Lookout 4 @ Fort Frances 8, Thu Feb 9

Ryker Watt had a game for the ages, scoring three and assisting on five, as the Lakers shook off an entire season of frustration with an 8-4 win over Sioux Lookout. Fort Frances scored five on the powerplay. Watt climbed to 14th in league scoring with his eight-point outburst. He had been held pointless in his prior three contests.

The teams exchanged six goals in a freewheeling first period. Lucas Trimarchi’s 12th at 7:42 got the puck rolling for the Bombers. Brady Wicklund and Watt scored on Fort Frances powerplays, both on the same double-minor, to take a 2-1 lead. Nathan Dann scored his 9th on a Sioux Lookout powerplay, and Blake Burke tacked on 42 seconds later as Sioux Lookout re-took the lead. Watt’s second of the period tied it at 3-3 at 18:38.

Mitchell Daines re-established the Bomber lead at 8:29 of the second. 

It was all Lakers after that. Kevin Bond, Brady Krentz and Brady Wicklund beat Ethan Penner to close out the first 40 minutes. Watt scored his hat trick goal at 11:27 of the third with his second on the powerplay, and Conner O’Brien completed the scoring with yet another Laker powerplay effort at 16:33.

Brenden Stroble stopped 49 of 53 Bomber shots for the win, allowing just the one in the second frame on 24 Sioux Lookout shots.

Wicklund had a four-point night with two assists added to his two goals. Bond and Krentz kicked in a pair of helpers. Trever Sanderson also two assists for the Lakers.

Tegan Neuman and Ty Bahm had two assists each for Sioux Lookout.

Fort had 34 shots against Penner.

The Bombers had 12 penalty minutes and the Lakers had eight. 

Red Lake 2 @ Thunder Bay 5, Fri Feb 10: Red Lake 2 @ Thunder Bay 3 (OT) Sat Feb 11

Nikolas Campbell scored three and Conner Lemieux registered a 48-save effort as the Thunder Bay North Stars defeated the visiting Red Lake Miners 5-2 before 395 fans at Fort William Gardens. The win places the Stars in a fourth-place tie with Miners.

Red Lake took a pair of leads before the Campbell Show made its debut at 2:47 of the second period.

Riley See opened the scoring at 11:55 of the first, converting a rebound for his first of the year. Jamie Fuchs scored late in the period for Thunder Bay. His powerplay snapshot from the high slot beat Jack Osmond to tie the game.

Former North Star Jonah DesRosiers gave the Miners a 2-1 edge with an unassisted marker at 2:03 of the second. Campbell registered his first of the game, collecting a rebound 44 seconds later. Midway through the middle frame he gave the Stars a 3-2 lead. A little fancy foot work got him into prime scoring territory, and he made no mistake. Dimitri Trahiotis notched his 11th from 12 feet out to give Thunder Bay a 4-2 lead heading into the third. 

Campbell completed his hat trick at 3:44 with a tough-angle snipe into the top corner. He now has 10 goals in 12 games. At the other end, Lemieux was making 22 third period stops as Thunder Bay was killing off a major penalty and a 1:32 5-on-3 midway through the final period.

Lemieux collected his 10th win. Osmond was busy too, thwarting 36 of 41 for Red Lake.

Edison Weeks picked up three assists, Fuchs added an assist and Matt Halushak had two apples for Thunder Bay. DesRosiers added an assist to his goal in his return to the Bay.

Thunder Bay was 1-5 on the powerplay. Red Lake was 0-6.

The Stars took 15 of 27 penalty minutes.

Saturday’s game was a classic that needed 1:16 of overtime to decide. RJ Dickey provided the extra time heroics with a backhander at the expiration of a North Stars powerplay for a 3-2 Thunder Bay win before 355 fans. The Stars added four shots in OT to the 56 they took at Trent Boryszczuk during regulation time to secure the win. 

Thunder Bay climbed over the Miners into fourth place with the weekend sweep. They’re three points behind the Sioux Lookout Bombers, the team they play Monday.

The Miners are winless in six.

Liam Murdoch’s wrister from the high slot opened the scoring for Thunder Bay. Jacob Lamoureux scored two consecutive goals to give the Miners a 2-1 lead. Lamoureux snapped one over Conner Lemieux for his 25th snipe of the year at 3:22 of the second.

At 54 seconds of the third Lamoureux buried a fortuitous bounce of the boards for his league-leading 26th.

Colby Feist took Edison Weeks’ perfect pass and went low blocker side to tie the game midway through the third.

Dickie’s 6th of the year on assists from Feist and Nikolas Campbell triggered a raucous celebration.

Lemieux stopped 30 of 32 for his 11th win. Boryszczuk improved his save percentage to .925 with his 57-save effort.

Both teams were unsuccessful in three powerplay chances each. Only eight minor penalties were assessed. 

Sioux Lookout 2 @ Wisconsin 1, Fri Feb 10: Sioux Lookout 4 @ Wisconsin 1, Sat Feb 11

Lucas Trimarchi scored a powerplay goal at 11:32 of the second period and it proved to be the game-winner as the Sioux Lookout Bombers defeated Wisconsin 2-1. Neither team hit double digits in shots in any period. Jake Manners stopped 23 of24 for his 17th win. Kyler Lowden made 20 saves for the Lumberjacks. 

Owen Riffel tapped in Connor Burke’s feed at 8:49 of the first to open the scoring for Sioux Lookout.

Neil Pretorius scored his first of the season at 9:40 of the second to tie it up for Wisconsin. Trimarchi’s deflection on a Nolan Palmer shot proved to be the difference.

There was no scoring in the third. 

Manners won his 17th of the year. He’s tied in GAA with a 2.48 GAA and leads the SIJHL with a .930 SV%. Lowden dropped to 9-11-5.

The Bombers took a late penalty, but the Lumberjacks did not pull Lowden for an extra attacker.

Only eight minor penalties were called, five to the Bombers. 

In Saturday’s rematch Ty Bahm scored two and Jake Manners turned aside 33 shots as the Bombers scored three in first and made it 4-0 in the third to cruise to a 4-1 win over Wisconsin. 

Bahm scored from the slot at 8:20 of the first and added his 14th at 11:42 on a Bomber powerplay. Blake Burke’s 17th 13 seconds later on assists from Connor Burke and Owen Riffel gave the Bombers a 3-0 edge through 20.

Manners and Kyler Lowden shut the door in the second. Graeme Patrick buried a slot pass from Riffel at 3:15 of the third for the 4-0 margin. Zach Johnson would break Manners’ shutout bid at 10:35 to round out the scoring. Sal Poggiali collected his 22nd assist and Dylan Jouppi his 23rd on Johnson’s 14th of the year.

Manners won his 18th and leads the SIJHL goaltending parade with a 2.43 GAA, .931 SV% and 1,728 minutes. Eric Vanska of Kam River has 23 wins to lead that category. Lowden stopped 26 in the Wisconsin net.

Sioux Lookout was 1-3 on the powerplay. The Lumberjacks were blanked in their two tries. Only 11 minor penalties were called. The Spooner Civic Centre attracted 276 fans.

Kam River 5 @ Dryden 3, Fri Feb 10: Kam River 5 @ Dryden 2, Sat Feb 11

One of two winning streaks had to bite the dust in the showdown at Dryden Memorial Arena. Dryden’s was snapped at nine. Kam River extended theirs to seven with a 5-3 victory over the Ice Dogs.

The Walleye win gives them a six-point lead over Dryden for first place.

Kam River took a 5-1 lead by 6:08 of the second before the Dogs pushed back with a pair.

Defenceman Jack Cook went high blocker side for his 16th at 6:27 of the first. Ethan Lang picked up the loose change midway through the first to extend the Walleye lead to 2-0. Bryce Benfield deflected James Hooton’s point shot on a Dryden powerplay to narrow the score. Max Leduc’s backhander with 1:01 left in the first restored the two-goal Kam River lead.

Josh Pufahl scored early in the second and Jeremy Dunmore converted a nice pass from Leduc at 6:08 for the 5-1 lead. 

Jordan Pfoh’s wrister from the point at 12:13 drew the Dogs to within three.

In the third, Ondrej Bardos scored his first of the season at 17:05 to get Dryden with hailing distance. Eric Vanska held his ground to garner his 22nd win.

Dryden’s Eric Clark was pulled late in the first and returned in the second after Zac MacDonald gave up a pair in the second. MacDonald was tagged for the loss.

Cook added two assists. Ethan Lang and Leduc had one assist each for Kam River. The Walleye were 1-3 on the powerplay. Dryden was 1-4.

Tempers flared near the end of the game, but only 38 penalty minutes were called in the game. The Walleye had 26, Dryden 12.

Attendance was 412.

In Saturday’s game Kam River scored three unanswered third period goals to defeat the Ice Dogs 5-2. The weekend sweep gives the Walleye an eight-point lead in the race for first place and a first-round playoff bye. 

Dryden outshot Kam River 36-21 overall, and in every period as well. Eric Vanska picked up win 23 on the year. Max Leduc counted a goal and assist in the affair, his second two-point outing in two days.

Dryden couldn’t hold a pair of early leads. McLaren Paulsen scored unassisted, going post and in, to open the scoring at 6:09 of the first for a 1-0 Dryden lead. 

Three goals were scored in the second frame.

Leduc buried his 13th from the slot at 1:30 on a Kam River powerplay to tie the game. Ryland Maier went five-hole on Vanska to re-up the Dryden advantage. Euan Morrison grabbed a banked shot in traffic and was wide open to garner his 9th at 7:35 to tie the score.

Jeremy Dunmore, Riley Borody and Josh Pufahl into an empty net sealed the Ice Dogs’ fate. Dunmore’s game-winner was a redirect of a Leduc pass. He leads the Walleye with 17 goals. Borody scored his 6th unassisted at 14:05. Pufahl nabbed his 5th with 22 seconds left. 

The Walleye took 29 penalty minutes to Dryden’s 17. The Walleye were 1-6 on the powerplay and shut down Dryden’s six chances with the extra man. Dryden drew 417 fans.