Week 9 Recap
The SIJHL will complete 40 per cent of the 2024-25 regular season by the end of week 10.
Kam River’s 6-2 Sunday win snapped Dryden’s 15-game points streak. The Ice Dogs travel to Sioux Lookout for a weekend pair against the SIJHL’s new hottest team. The Bombers have points in their last nine games.
Dryden enters week 10 with a seven-point lead in the battle for first place. McLaren Paulsen is on pace for a 100-point season with 43 in 20 games. Carson Devine (34 points), Payton Hu (33), Max Roby (32), Emmanuel Nkombou (28) and Eli Antoine (27) join him in the top eight. The Ice Dogs are the only team with over 100 goals–120–29 more than second place Thunder Bay.
Kellan Mooney is 9-1-0 between the pipes and Braxton Castagno is 7-2-1.
The Bombers are seven points behind Dryden with two games in hand. Alex Lucas is 11th in league scoring with 23 points. Tait Howell and Jonah Smith have 18 each. They have allowed 47 goals, fewest in the league, led by the M&M boys–Matthew Ofukany (7-1-0, 2.36 GAA, .923 SV%) and Matthew Spencer-Dahl (5-3-0, 2.56, .928).
Thunder Bay sits in third place with 23 points, one ahead of the Walleye. Tyler Jordan has 25 points on the year. Alex Remenda, rookie Evan Simeoni, Beau Helmeczi, top points producing defenceman Tag Bryson and Cohen Tangedal all have 20 points or more and are bunched in the 12-16 slots in league scoring. Marcellus Francis has 17 points in eight games. Goaltender Ben Laurette is 7-3-0/2.54/.922 and Keenan Marks slashes in at 4-2-1/3.06/.903.
Kam River’s Jett Mintenko has 12 goals and 22 assists for 34 points to rank second in league production. Daxton Lang joined the six-man 30-point scorer’s club with a 12G-18A split. Ashton Sadauskas is 9-3-0 in net. He is joined by Thunder Bay’s Sam Keene, acquired from Ironwood. Long time back-up Travis VanderZwaag joined the Niagara Falls Canucks of the OJHL.
Fort Frances’ 19 points in 18 games keeps them above .500, four points north of fifth place Red Lake. The Lakers have 31.9% powerplay, second-best in the SI. Brady Krentz’ 20 points leads the team in production. Jack Wood is next with 17. Rookie Nolan Koethler and Gunner Paradis solidify the net position.
Red Lake is unbeaten in three, a point away from .500 status. They’ve scored 56 goals and allowed 56 goals. Nathan Dann has 18 points to lead the team. Ethan Rau leads the league with a 1.62 goals against average and .940 save percentage in his brief 185 minutes.
Ironwood has a 24.4% powerplay, and Marshall Thomas has 24 points for 10th place in league scoring. Kole Kronstedt is the SI’s ironman in net, logging 843 minutes between the pipes. Kronstedt’s minutes will likely continue to mount as former teammate Sam Keene was dealt to Kam River. The Lumberjacks venture to Kam River for a rare Tuesday morning (11 a.m.) start, and then to Red Lake for a Friday/Saturday pair.
The Lumberjacks have lost nine in a row.
The Islanders played two games against the Bombers last week, hanging in tough for two first periods against the league champs. They also toned down their penalty minutes recently. Josh Boyko’s eight goals and 10 points lead the team. They host Red Lake on Tuesday afternoon, and play Kam River and Thunder Bay at home this weekend while on an 11-game winless streak.
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