By Gary Moskalyk
Dryden 0 at Kam River 4 Friday
Ashton Sadauskas recorded his 13th win with a 30-save shutout, and four different Kam River shooters recorded even strength goals as the Fighting Walleye defeated Dryden 4-0 before 411 fans at Norwest Arena.
Sadauskas collected his third shutout and pushed his save percentage to .905, while lowering his goals against to 2.34. Dryden’s Ewan Soutar faced 48 Kam River shots, 19 in both the first and third periods, absorbing the loss.
All four Kam River lines were in on the scoring as 12 different players recorded a single point.
Ryan Doucette’s backhander and subsequent rebound beat Soutar at 8:14 of the first to open the scoring. Jacob Sargent recorded his first Walleye assist on the play.
In the second frame, Matteo Salvatore and Jett Mintenko drove up the score to 3-0. Kaden Goodwin made a nice feed to Salvatore for his 3rd of the year. Mintenko scored his 13th from the high slot on assists from the Carters–Nailen and Poddubny –at 19:10.
Braeden Duchesne’s shot from the point beat a screened Soutar for the game’s final goal at 7:36 of the third.
Sadauskas made a number of fine saves, especially in Dryden’s 16-shot second period.
A total of 11 minor penalties were called, five to Dryden and six to Kam River. The Ice Dogs were 0-4 while Kam Rive was 0-3 with the man advantage.
The win tied Kam River with Sioux Lookout for first place with 36 points. The Walleye have two games in hand on the Bombers.
Dryden 2 at Kam River 9 Saturday
Kam River remained tied atop the SIJHL standings with a convincing 9-2 win over visiting Dryden. Sioux Lookout beat Thunder Bay to keep pace.
Balanced scoring and plenty of it propelled the Walleye to their 19th win in 23 games. Eight Fighting Walleye had two or more points in the game.
Jeremy Dunmore deflected Brydon Bell’s point shot for a 1-0 Walleye lead at 46 seconds. Eli Antoine stuffed home his 12th unassisted at 8:25 to tie the game. Riley Borody scored 1:23 later, tipping home a point shot from former Ice Dog Easton Debray to re-establish one one-goal Kam River edge.
In the second frame, Jett Mintenko dangled from right wing and buried his 14th at 5:35 for a 3-1 Kam River lead. Ryland Maier blocked a point shot, won a foot race and buried one past Ashton Sadauskas to draw the Ice Dogs one goal closer.
Kam River scored the last two in the second, and fired in four unanswered in the third to put an exclamation point on the win.
Ryan Daponte notched his first of the year, and Carter Nailen scored his third upping the lead to 5-2 after 40 minutes.
Dunmore, Carter Poddubny and Doucette on Kam powerplays, and Braeden Duchesne polished off the scoring to the delight of 624 fans, who got into the game free courtesy of Tbaytel.
Dunmore had an assist in addition to his goals. Four players: Nailen, Mintenko, Borody and Poddubny had a goal and two assists each. Doucette added a helper, and Brydon Bell and Jacob Sargent had two assists each.
Sadauskas won his 14th with 27 saves. Liam Vanderkooi faced 57 Kam River shots.
The Walleye were 2-5 on the powerplay and shut down four Dryden chances. Only 11 minor penalties were called.
Kenora 3 at Wisconsin 10 Friday
Nolan Fowler had four goals, Zach Johnson had a hat trick and two assists, and Dillon Phillips had five helpers as the Wisconsin Lumberjacks thumped the visiting Kenora Islanders 10-3 in Spooner, WI. Kenora held leads of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2. The Lumberjacks scored the last eight.
Rylen Freshwater won his third of the season, stopping 24 of 27. In the Kenora cage, Kaden King stopped 42 of 49 over two periods and Connor Dunham-Fox faced 21 more shots for a total of 70 Wisconsin shots. The Lumberjacks were over 20 shots in each period.
Braden Swampy notched his 3rd early on a powerplay at 1:58 of the first for a 1-0 Islander lead. Fowler got his first at 4:46 on a Wisconsin powerplay to tie it up. Grady Priest recorded his goal of the year for Kenora, unassisted, 59 seconds later for a 2-1 Kenora lead. Johnson got his first of the game at 18:17 to knot the score at two-all.
Brayden Mackay scored at 1:02 of the second with Priest recording the primary assist for a 3-2 Kenora lead. Wisconsin scored five unanswered goals to take a 7-3 lead into the third. Simon Davidson, Fowler, Johnson, Fowler and Kaden Postal, shorthanded with six seconds left in the period, tallied in that sequence.
Fowler on the powerplay and Johnson scored in the third, and Sutton Majeske got his first as a Lumberjack on the powerplay to push the score to 10-3.
Postal also had two assists and Ryan Kayser had a pair of assists for Wisconsin. Priest had two points for Kenora in his 4th game.
Kenora took 31 minutes in penalties to 27 penalty minutes for Wisconsin. The Lumberjacks were 3-3 with the man advantage while Kenora was 1-7.
A crowd of 151 attended.
Kenora 3 at Wisconsin 5 Saturday
Wisconsin swept the weekend series with a 5-3 win. Nolan Fowler and Dillon Phillips had a two goals and an assist each to power the victory against a pesky Islander squad in search of their second win.
Ryan Kayser’s long shot off the boards caromed to Sutton Majeske who centered to Phillips at 13:07 of the first to give the Lumberjacks a 1-0 lead. Grayson Chell replied at 15:39 of the first, and then added his second of the game and third of the season with a wrister on a Kenora powerplay to the Islanders ahead 2-1 through the first period.
Fowler gained a step on the Islander defence, swept in and scored on a backhander to tie the game. The unassisted effort came at 7:12 of the second. Jayden McPherson-Nepinak scored on a rebound to put the Islanders up 3-2.
Wisconsin’s Jack Carruthers struck with just two seconds left in the second period to tie it. With time winding down, Carruthers closed in one-on-three, avoided a check and slid one along the ice past Connor Dunham-Fox to tie the game at three-all.
Fowler got his 6th of the weekend with a snipe from the high slot at 15:44 of the third. Phillips got his 9th of the year with an empty-net marker with 57 seconds left to nail down the win.
Rylan Freshwater evened his record to 4-4-0 with 26 saves. Dunham-Fox made 44 stops in the Islander cage.
Chell’s two goals, McPherson-Nepinak two points, and Aaron Bertschinger’s two assists powered the Islanders.
Kayser and Majeske had two apples each for Wisconsin.
After a penalty-filled first, tempers calmed. Kenora took 23 of 36 penalty minutes–just one minor in the last two periods.
The Islanders scored the lone powerplay goal in four chances. Wisconsin was shut down in four opportunities. A total of 195 fans attended.
Red Lake 7 at Fort Frances 4 Saturday
Jared Burnett and Aiden Corbett had two goals each and Noah Davis made 33 saves as the visiting Red Lake Miners took a 7-4 decision over the Lakers in Fort Frances.
A four-goal Red Lake explosion spanning the second and third period broke open a 2-2 game. The Miners are undefeated in their last six games and are just three points back of the fourth-place North Stars.
Teagan Wrolstad got Fort Frances on the board at 4:17 of the first with a top shelf blocker side shot. Just 48 seconds later Jared Burnett scored unassisted for Red Lake to tie it. Corbett got his 15th on a Red Lake two-on-one to give the Miners a 2-1 lead heading into the second.
Clark Scaddan’s rebound backhander tied it up for Fort Frances at 5:36 of the middle period. Andrew Sikora started the Red Lake barrage at 14:12 with a drive from the high slot that beat Lukas Toth glove side.
Back-to-back-to-back goals from Brody Lindal, Corbett and Burnett provided a seemingly comfortable 6-2 Red Lake lead. Wrolstad banged one off the post and in and Scaddan got his second of the game at 13:52 to pull the Lakers to within two.
Carter Deschamps slapped an insurance policy on the outcome with a low glove side shot at 17:35 to seal the win for the Miners.
Pierce Gouin and Jack Wood added two assists for the Lakers.
Toth faced 46 shots in the loss. Davis garnered his 5th win against a loss for the Miners.
Both teams had five powerplay chances with no goals. Red Lake took eight of 15 minor penalties dished out. Attendance was 319.
Red Lake 5 at Fort Frances 3 Sunday
Red Lake swept the Lakers with a 5-3 win on Sunday to close to within a point of 4th place Thunder Bay. The Miners are on a seven-game point streak, six of them wins.
Nathan Dann notched a pair, Aiden Corbett had a goal and two helpers and Luke DeCorby had two assists for the Miners. Ethan Neitsch won his 6th game stopping 29 of 32.
The Lakers struck first. Ryker Watt’s hustle negated an icing call and his pass to Noah McPherson resulted in a Laker goal at 8:24 of the first period. Nathan Dann got his first goal from in close to tie it 1:05 later. Brody Lindal’s backhander put the Miners ahead at 18:27.
Dann’s second goal midway through the second, his 15th, gave Red Lake a two-goal edge. Pierce Gouin’s shot through traffic went high blocker on Neitsch for his 5th of the year at 13:53 to narrow the lead.
Red Lake upped their lead to 5-2 in the third. Carter Deschamps beat Jack Orchard glove side and Aiden Corbett scored on a powerplay at 6:30. Clark Scaddan finished off some nifty passing on a Laker powerplay to pull Fort Frances to within two goals with 4:41 left.
Orchard left the Laker net for an extra attacker with 1:52 remaining but the Lakers could not pull even.
Both teams were 1-3 on the powerplay, and also had 20 penalty minutes apiece. Ice for Kids Arena drew 261 fans for the contest.
Thunder Bay 2 at Sioux Lookout 5 Saturday
The Bombers ran their winning streak to eight with a 5-2 win over Thunder Bay at the Hangar in Sioux Lookout. Bomber defenceman Dayvan Bull continued his fine season, collecting a goal and assist and Jack Osmond won his 9th against four losses and an overtime defeat.
Ty Kirk’s deflection was sent fluttering in the air by an Ethan Barron blocker save for a spell before settling past the goal line and in to open the scoring for the Bombers at 2:28 of the first. Edison Weeks sent Keagan Jones into the clear as the Stars tied it at 8:26. Just 23 seconds later Connor Burke connected low glove side to regain the Bomber lead at 2-1. Burke has 14 on the year.
Two goals were scored in the second. Cohen Tangedahl got his 6th of the campaign, stuffing one past Osmond at 9:29. Bull’s 8th goal of the season– a wrister from the point after a stutter step opened up a shooting lane–put Sioux Lookout up 3-2 after 40 minutes.
Blake Burke leaped out of the penalty box to accept a Peter Zilkalns feed and beat Barron for an insurance marker with 2:13 left. With 11 seconds to go, Owen Riffel got his league-leading 20th goal with Barron out for an extra attacker.
The Bomber line of Burke/Burke and Riffel outdueled Thunder Bay’s top guns (EJ Paddington/Weeks and Easton Mikus) in the showdown.
Neither team scored on the powerplay. Thunder Bay drew one minor, Sioux Lookout two. Attendance was 264.