By Gary Moskalyk
Week 3 begins with a Wednesday night Dryden at Sioux Lookout battle. Friday features three games. Dryden faces Thunder Bay for a weekend pair, Wisconsin heads to Red Lake for a Friday/Saturday showdown, Kam River’s is in Fort Frances again for two games despite Saturday being absent in the graphic. Kenora ventures to Sioux Lookout for a game Saturday.
Dryden 3-1-0 GF 12 GA 5 PIMs 116 PP 11.15 PK 85.75 at Sioux Lookout 4-0-0 GF 16 GA 7 PIMs 66 PP 28.6% PK 93.8%
Based on wins and this will be the SIJHL marquee match-up for the week. Traditionally Dryden scores well on special teams. In the early going Sioux Lookout holds the early edge.
Sioux Lookout’s production is centered on the exploits of the Owen Riffel/Blake Burke/Connor Burke line. Riffel has seven of Sioux Lookout’s 16 goals. Blake Burke has one marker and seven assists, while Connor Burke has three goals and three assists. Riffel also has two helpers. Forward Jonah Smith has three goals and Dayvan Bull has three assists.
Jack Osmond has two of the four starts in goal with a 1.00 GAA and .961 SV%.
Dryden on the other hand has balanced scoring and a team goals against of 1.25.
Defenceman Sebastiano Biagi leads the team with three goals and three points in four games. Max Roby, Elias Eisenbarth, Ryland Maier, McLaren Paulsen, Nathan Prodanuk, Jack Graham and Adam Zimmerman all have two points each.
Three shutouts have been recorded through 28 SIJHL games. Dryden’s Michael Sullivan and Ewan Soutar have one each and Braxton Castagno has allowed one in his 60 minutes. Osmond of Sioux Lookout has the other shutout.
The Ice Dogs have 116 penalty minutes to Sioux Lookout’s 66 through four games each.
Dryden at Thunder Bay 1-2-0 GF 16 GA 12 PIMs 50 PP 20.0% PK 75.0%
Charter members of the SIJHL, Dryden and Thunder Bay square off at the Fort William Gardens for two. In last year’s semi-final Thunder Bay took Dryden down in a seven-game thriller. Any player who played in that series hasn’t forgotten it.
Thunder Bay lost two close ones to Sioux Lookout, then romped over Kenora on Saturday.
Easton Mikus had a seven-point night (six goals) and leads the SIJHL scoring race with 10 points and his seven goals tie him with Riffel. Line mates EJ Paddington (3G 6A) and Edison Weeks (1G 7A) sit in the top five in league scoring in only three games played. Easton Glousher has three goals and Connor O’Brien and Eric Sheriff have two points each. The Stars have 16 goals scored to lead the SI in goals per game at 5.33.
Keenan Marks has two of the three starts in net and the only win. Ethan Barron has one start so far.
Wisconsin 1-2-1 GF 12 GA 16 PIMs 60 PP% 4.8 PK% 75.0 at Red Lake 2-2-0 GF 13 GA 11 PIMs 80 PP% 13.0 PK% 85.7
Wisconsin started off with a road shootout loss and a win against Kenora followed by two home losses to Sioux Lookout.
Lumberjack scorers dominated the points parade early last year. Koen Burkholder has a goal and three assists to lead the team through four games. Ryan Kayser has three points. Simon Davidson, Zach Johnson, Maddox Achtor, Kaden Postal, Jack Carruthers, Marshall Thomas and Axel Wyatt all have two points each.
William Forrester is 1-1-1 through three games with a 3.57 GAA. Rylan Freshwater has a .911 save percentage in his SIJHL debut.
The Lumberjacks have a loan powerplay goal in 21 chances and have allowed five goals in 20 shorthanded situations.
Red Lake has played league champion Kam River twice and tough as nails Dryden twice and are 2-2-0 and +2 so far.
Noah Tenney has two goals and four assists so far to lead the charge offensively. Luke DeCorby has two goals and two assists. Blake Hiltermann and Gavin McIntosh have three points each, and Jared Burnett, Brody Lindal, Bryson Carlyle, Bradyn Roswell have two against tight defensive clubs.
Trent Boryszczuk has two wins and a loss while posting a 3.00 GAA and .926 SA%. Ethan Neitsch allowed one goal against Dryden in 59 minutes but still managed to lose. In the early going, Red Lake looks very solid in net.
On special teams, the Miners have scored three on the powerplay but have allowed two while up a man. The penalty kill sits at a respectable 85.7%.
They are league average at 20 penalty minutes per game.
Kam River 2-1-0 GF 15 GA 12 PIMs 69 PP 15.4% PK 85.7% at Fort Frances 0-3-0 GF 4 GA 16 PIMs 73 PP 11.1% PK 89.5%
After an uncharacteristic loss in their home opener Kam River is on a two-game winning streak looking for more.
The Fighting Walleye have five players in the top-20, five more in the top-40 and Riley Borody with two assists in his one game played.
Daxton Lang has three goals and an assist, and Jett Mintenko and Max Wright join him in the four-point club. Brydon Bell, Braeden Duchesne, Isiah Kinnavanthong and Carter Poddubny all have three points, and Kobe Braham, Jeremy Dunmore, Kaden Goodwin and Edwin Liang join Borody with two points each.
Travis VanderZwaag has a win in his only start and Ashton Sadauskas is 1-1 so far.
The powerplay took awhile to get started last year. It’s at 15.4% under new head coach Jesse Messier. The penalty kill has one of the three shorthanded markers in the league so far and sits at 85.7%.
Fort Frances has had a slow start so far this year with no wins and just four goals in three games.
Jack Wood has a goal and assist and Emerson Evans has two helpers so far.
Jack Orchard has three starts under his belt with an .892 save percentage. Lucas Toth came on in relief and played 25 minutes with an .882 save percentage.
Fort Frances has scored just two powerplay goals but on the other side, they’ve only allowed two powerplay markers.
Head coach Tyler Miller is looking to implement a culture change in Fort Frances. Retaining most of his eligible players from last year and signing Orchard in the off-season should help the process.
Kenora 1-2-0 GF 12 GA 21 PIMs 80 PP 20.0% PK 85.0% at Sioux Lookout
The Islanders won their first game (4-3), hung in against Wisconsin in game two (7-4 loss) and took it on the chin against Thunder Bay (11-4) in the six-goal “Mikus game.” Now they make their first road trip for a one-off against the Bombers on Saturday.
Captain Aaron Bertschinger has three goals and three assists ranking sixth in league scoring. Jeremiah Jacques has five points (2G-3A). Keanu Woodhouse has three assists, while Keelian Levasseur and Darian Sinclair have two goals each. Brayden Mackay and Jayden McPherson-Nepinak have a goal and assist each. Elias Eisenbarth has two helpers.
Scoring hasn’t been an issue for the SI’s newest team. They have averaged seven goals against so far, however. Kaden King, Jero Rossi and Matthew Stephens have all seen action so far, with Stephens seeing the lion’s share of playing time.
Game one hero Reid Zurkan has 16 penalty minutes so far. The Islanders’ 80 penalty minutes in three games places them second in per game average.
Attendance for the three home games was 1,865 for an average of 622.