By Gary Moskalyk
Oliver Paipoonge, ON – Ashton Sadauskas made 25 saves as the Kam River Fighting Walleye continued their winning ways with a 5-0 series opening win over Red Lake. Kaden Goodwin gained a half a step on a Red Lake defender and chipped one by Ethan Neitsch at 18 seconds of the third period to seal another Walleye win. The streak is now 20 games long. Kam River has not lost since January 27th. And, as noted in the Kam River broadcast, have not trailed for a single minute in the playoffs.
Ryan Daponte scored the only goal of the first, tipped Nickolas Fagnilli’s shot at 14:28 for his 3rd goal of the playoffs on a Walleye power play.
The Walleye scored two in the second and two more in the third. Carter Nailen deposited a rebound midway through the second for 5th. Ryan Doucette accepted a nice pass from Nailen and collected his 4th for a 3-0 lead through 40 minutes.
Goodwin’s goal early in the third made it 4-0, and Carter Poddubny scored from behind the Red Lake net in a mad scramble with 1:39 to go to round out the scoring.
Neitsch handled 28 of 33 for Red Lake.
The Miners took 24 of the 38 penalty minutes assessed. The Walleye were 1-4 with the man advantage while killing off four Red Lake power plays.
Doucette and Nailen had two points each, and Brydon Bell and Fagnilli had two assists each.
Attendance was 707. Game two is Monday at 7:05 EDT at Norwest Arena.