By Gary Moskalyk
Feb 13
Wisconsin 4 at Thunder Bay 7
Thunder Bay roared out to an early 3-0 lead and never looked back, posting a 7-4 win over visiting Wisconsin. Cohen Tangedal, Tristen Bear, and Cameron Dial on a Stars’ powerplay, staked the home team to a 3-0 edge by the 6:31 mark.
Thunder Bay scored three of the five second period goals to pull away with a 6-2 lead through 40 minutes.
Ryan Kayser went glove side on Stars’ netminder Ben Laurette at 5:47–three seconds into a Wisconsin powerplay–to put the Lumberjacks on the board. EJ Paddington scored his 22nd on a wrap-around just 17 seconds later to restore the three-goal margin. Collin Baker got his 13th on a Wisconsin powerplay at 12:20 to get the ‘Jacks to within a pair. Connor Larrett restored Thunder Bay’s three-goal lead 25 seconds later, and Alex Remenda tacked on to the lead with his 6th on a Stars’ powerplay to close out the second frame with the Stars up by four.
Dillon Phillips got his 20th unassisted at 8:55 of the third, an absolute snipe over the shoulder of Laurette on a tough angle with about a millimeter of space to spare. Garren Voisey regained the four goal cushion at 12:45 on a Stars’ 3-on-2. Kaden Postal rounded out the scoring with 1:20 left on a Wisconsin powerplay.
The Lumberjacks were 3-8 with the man advantage while Thunder Bay was 2-6.
Five different North Stars picked up a goal and an assist each. Larrett, Paddington, Remenda, Tangedal and Dial edged up the scoring race, and the player leading it–Edison Weeks–reached 60 points with two assists.
Phillips registered three points on the night for Wisconsin. Postal added an assist and Nolan Fowler had two helpers.
Laurette stopped 38 of 42 to raise his record to 4-0-0. Burnett was on the hook for 37 shots, stopping 30, dropping his record below .500 at 3-4-1.
Wisconsin took six minor penalties to Thunder Bay’s eight.
Sioux Lookout 4 at Red Lake 2
Jonah Smith scored the game winner and added another tally and an assist, and Owen Riffel added a goal and helper, as Sioux Lookout overcame a one-goal deficit late in the game to defeat Red Lake 4-2 at Cochenour Arena.
The Bombers struck for three goals in the final 2:37 for a stunning conclusion to a tightly contested match.
The Bombers pelted Ethan Neitsch with 15 first period shots but couldn’t score. The Miners replied with 16 shots in the second. Aiden Corbett got the game’s first goal at 14:02 of the middle frame on a Red Lake powerplay, going glove side on a screened Jack Osmond for his 25th. Smith replied for Sioux Lookout, notched his 14th from close quarters at 16:12 to tie it.
Noah Tenney’s re-direct of a Luke DeCorby shot gave Red Lake a 2-1 lead at 5:54 of the third, his 12th of the year, on a Miners’ powerplay.
The game pivoted late in the third. Neitsch was called for delay of game at 17:22 for dislodging his net. Sioux Lookout pulled Osmond for a 6-on-4. The move paid dividends. The Bombers controlled the draw, and Owen Riffel connected for his league-leading 29th goal just seconds into the powerplay to tie up. Smith got the game winner at 17:36 on a deflection of Kaden Vellers’ shot just seconds later for a 3-2 Bomber lead.
Red Lake took a late penalty putting a crimp on their comeback plans. Regardless, the Miners pulled their goalie. The Bombers’ Owen Cotter foiled the strategy, scoring from just past centre ice to seal the deal with an empty netter at 19:45.
The win gave the Bombers a three-point edge over idle Kam River in the battle for first. Red Lake is two points behind Dryden for 4th, and six points back of Thunder Bay for 3rd. The Miners have two games in hand on Dryden and one on Thunder Bay.
Veller had two assists for the Bombers.
Two dominant SIJHL goaltenders dueled in this match. Osmond climbed to 15-6-2 with 30 stops on 32 shots while Neitsch fell to 9-8-2 making 31 saves in 34 shots.
Sioux Lookout was 1-8 with the man advantage, while Red Lake was 2-5.
The Miners took 28 penalty minutes to Sioux Lookout’s 12.
Fort Frances 5 at Kenora 2
Fort Frances scored four goals in the second period en route to a 5-2 win over the Islanders at the Moncrief Construction Sports Centre in Kenora. Brady Krentz had two goals for the Lakers, Evan Kabel chipped in with a pair of assists, and Lukas Toth picked up his third win of the year for Fort Frances.
The Lakers closed to within six points of 6th place Wisconsin.
Ezekiel Kirkness had both Islander goals. Braden Swampy collected two assists.
The teams battled to a 1-1 draw through the first 20 minutes. Remington Richardson capitalized on an early 2-on-0 as the Lakers drew first blood at 1:19.
Kirkness replied less than two minutes later, sliding one past Toth for his 3rd of the year.
Clark Scaddan’s unassisted wrap around beat Kenora’s Connor Dunham-Fox at 36 seconds of the second stanza. Krentz got his first of the game with a high blocker side shot to open up a 3-1 Lakers’ lead at 5:51. Kirkness narrowed the deficit to one, scoring on the doorstep with Kenora on the powerplay at 6:07.
Krentz got his 14th of the year at 12:58, going post and in with a wicked wrister. Nolan Rideout registered his first of the year at 18:14, firing home a rebound to make it 5-2.
The third period was scoreless.
Shots on goal were not available.
Both teams took 24 minutes in penalties and each recorded powerplay markers.
February 19th
Thunder Bay 3 at Kam River 5
Kam River scored three third period goals to overcome a 3-2 North Stars lead and pull away with 5-3 win before a capacity crowd of 893. The victory combined with Sioux Lookout’s loss to Red Lake allowed the Walleye to climb to within a point of the Bombers in the race for first place overall. Kam River has a game in hand.
Alex Remenda opened the scoring for Thunder Bay at 7:41 of the first, going high glove over Walleye starter Ashton Sadauskas. Evan Lachimea corralled a loose puck deep in the Stars’ zone to tie the score at 15:29.
The teams exchanged second period goals. Jacob Sargent scored from the point past a screened Keenan Marks to give Kam River a 2-1 lead at 14:25. Remenda notched his second of the game and 8th of the year 19 seconds later on a wrister to tie the contest at 2-2.
EJ Paddington banked the puck off a Walleye defender and in to give the Stars a 3-2 lead 32 ticks into the third. Riley Borody’s high point shot beat Marks high glove side 1:21 later to knot the score at three-all.
Ryan Doucette capitalized on a North Stars delayed penalty and Thunder Bay give away at 5:35 for the game winner. Lachimea collected the assist on Borody’s 15th.
Thunder Bay pulled Marks with 1:41 to go. Jeremy Dunmore’s 23rd from the Kam River end zone with five seconds left to into the vacated net provided the final goal in the 5-3 Walleye win. A total of 101 shots were taken in the entertaining tilt. Sadauskas secured his league-leading 23rd win with a 43-save effort. Marks stopped 50 of 54 in the Thunder Bay net, dropping his record to 17-8-2.
Lachimea had two points for Kam River, and defenceman Liam Bell recorded two helpers. Remenda was Thunder Bay’s lone two-point man. His two goals give him six in his last six games, and 16 points in his 12 games with the Stars overall.
Kam River took 20 of the 38 penalty minutes assessed.
Wisconsin 9 at Fort Frances 7
Wisconsin scored four powerplay goals and added two shorthanded markers on the same penalty kill to defeat Fort Frances 9-7 before a Family Day crowd of 3,065. Nolan Fowler scored three, including his 20th of the year, and Dillon Phillips tallied once and assisted on four to propel the ‘Jacks attack. The win enabled Wisconsin to open up an eight point lead on their closest rivals in the battle for 6th place.
The teams exploded for 10 third period goals–five each.
Fowler’s first goal on a Wisconsin powerplay opened the scoring at 8:07 of the first on a dish from Collin Baker. Phillips garnered his 29th helper on the play. Jack Wood tied the game on a converted rebound at 19:07.
Wisconsin took a 4-1 lead by 13:28 of the second frame, all three on special teams. Axel Wyatt got his first of the year past a screen Lukas Toth just 45 seconds in on a Lumberjacks’ powerplay. With Wisconsin’s Simon Davidson in the box for two minutes, Ryan Kayser and Baker scored shorthanded 20 seconds apart for the 4-1 edge. Brady Krentz got his 15th at 18:45 to shave the lead to 4-2 entering the third.
Koen Burkholder created another three-goal Wisconsin lead at 1:36 on a ‘Jacks powerplay. Three consecutive Fort Frances’ goals by Kyle Garland (unassisted), Pierce Gouin, and Magnus Pearson (powerplay) knotted the score at 5-5 by the 9:46 mark.
Fowler and Phillips scored even strength goals at 12:04 and 12:30 to re-establish a two goal Wisconsin lead. Clark Scaddan made it 7-6, Fowler’s hat trick goal on a Wisconsin powerplay made it 8-6, Krentz’ second goal of the game at 15:53 narrowed the lead to 8-7, and Davidson polished off the scoring with 29 seconds left for the 9-7 final.
William Forrester picked up his 4th win, making 36 saves, while Toth had stopped 22 of 30 in the loss. Lakers’ back-up Jack Orchard made a cameo appearance, stopping one shot in the nine seconds he was in net.
Baker and Davidson added an assist each for Wisconsin. Gouin and Scaddan also added assists, and Foster Couvier had two helpers for the Lakers.
Phillips is on tear with 21 points in his last seven games, and jumped into 3rd place in SIJHL scoring with 53 points.
The Lumberjacks went 4-6 on the powerplay. The Lakers were 1-5. The Lakers took seven of the 13 minor penalties called by referees Duane Turriff and Matt McLellan.
Sioux Lookout 2 at Red Lake 4
Sioux Lookout scored the first two but Red Lake rattled off the final four as the Miners defeated the Bombers for the first time in five tries with a 4-2 win at Cochenour Arena. The Miners outshot the Bombers 22-6 in the third period and 49-24 overall.
Defenceman Blake Hiltermann beat Matthew Spencer-Dahl from a tough angle at 1:09 of the third for the game winner. Preston Tauter connected at 11:32 on a Miners’ powerplay for an insurance marker. The Miners’ full court press kept Spencer-Dahl pinned to the cage for the duration of the game.
Noah Davis saw his record rise to 10-4-0 with a 22-save effort. Spencer-Dahl’s record dropped to 9-2-2. His goals against average of 1.80 still leads all qualified SIJHL goalies.
Both of Sioux Lookout’s first period goals were on the powerplay. Alex Lucas got his 5th, snapping a shot past Davis’ blocker at 6:49. Nolan Palmer’s 10th from the slot at 17:10, his 7th, had the visitors up by a pair. Red Lake got one back 25 seconds later. Ryker Watt stripped the puck deep in the Bomber end, feeding Bradyn Rowsell who fired in his 4th.
Ethan Cerone scored his 10th unassisted to tie the game at 9:24 of the second.
Hiltermann’s 11th marker gave the Miners their first lead and Tauter’s 8th salted it away in the Miners’ two-goal third.
The Bombers were 2-6 on the powerplay, while Red Lake was 1-4. Sioux Lookout’s Alex Lucas took a five-minute major late in the contest to further stifle any thoughts of a Bomber comeback.
The Bombers took 13 of 25 penalty minutes assessed.
Red Lake wore special pink game jerseys to honour those who have succumbed from cancer, and those who continue to fight the battle.
Kenora 3 at Dryden 5
Dryden scored three consecutive first period powerplay goals to take a 3-0 lead, outshot Kenora 61-26, and Christian Lynch won his 4th of the year with no losses, to take a 5-3 decision against visiting Kenora. The Ice Dogs have won nine of their last 10.
James Hooton got the party started with his 5th four seconds into Dryden’s second powerplay chance at 13:26. McLaren Paulsen’s redirect past Kenora’s Kaden King gave Dryden a 2-0 lead 1:12 later. Adam Zimmerman’s one-timer opened up the 3-0 lead. Branden Boress’ first goal of the year on an Islander powerplay with 11 seconds left in the first period reduced the lead to 3-1.
Stanislav Boiarchuk scored at 1:11 of the second to re-establish Dryden’s three-goal edge. Hunter Favreau’s first goal of the year at 3:24 got the Islanders to within two.
Dryden’s Max Roby scored his 22nd at 2:34 of the third to regain the three-goal margin. Brayden Mackay completed the scoring at 15:18. The Islanders took three late penalties putting a damper on any comeback attempt.
King stopped 56 shots to gain third period status.
Roby added an assist for two Dryden points and Eli Antoine had two helpers for Dryden. Boress had an assist for two points and Aaron Bertschinger added two assists for Kenora.
The Ice Dogs were 3-6 on the powerplay while Kenora was 1-3. The Islanders were called for 27 penalty minutes while Dryden took just four minor penalties.
Dryden travels to Vermilion Bay and Kenora this weekend for a pair against the Islanders.