Photos: Kerri-Ann Kanceruk
Red Lake stands as the SIJHL’s only undefeated SIJHL team at 3-0-0. Also tied in first place with six points are 3-1-0 Kam River and 3-1-0 Sioux Lookout. A pair of wins evened Thunder Bay’s record at 2-2-0, tied with Dryden who split with the Bombers. Fort Frances is 1-1-1 and in 6th place.
Ironwood and Kenora have a single point each.
Carter Poddubny of Kam River leads the league in points with nine. The Fighting Walleye had 25 goals for against Kenora. Four players–Nathan Dann of Sioux Lookout, Max Wright and Daxton Lang of Kam River and Emmanuel Nkombou of Dryden–have four goals each.
Dryden’s Kellan Mooney leads the league is save percentage and goals against, .956 and 1.39 respectively. Ashton Sadauskas of Kam River, rookie Koen Webber of Red Lake and Matthew Spencer-Dahl of Sioux Lookout have two wins each.
Next weekend features eight games. Thunder Bay at Red Lake for a pair would be a marquee match-up. Fort Frances and Kam River have a home-and-home series. Ironwood travels to Dryden, and Sioux Lookout ventures to Kenora.
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AT DRYDEN GM ICE DOGS |
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| Emmanuel Nkombou scored the game winner and pocketed an empty netter with 38 seconds left to give the Dryden Ice Dogs a 4-2 win over the Sioux Lookout Bombers.
McLaren Paulsen gave the Ice Dogs a 1-0 first period lead, firing a low shot glove side past Matthew Spencer-Dahl at 7:25. Payton Hu notched his first of the year on a Dryden powerplay, converting a centering pass. Just 14 seconds later Tait Howell scored unassisted on a Dryden giveaway to shave the lead to one. Ty Kirk tied the game at 8:37 of the third, scoring Sioux Lookout’s second unassisted goal. Nkombou, a 6-6, 230-lb forward from Montreal, scored a breakaway shorthanded marker at 15:32, sliding a shot under Spencer-Dahl’s pad for a 3-2 Dryden lead. With the Bomber net empty, Nkombou scored on another breakaway to ice the contest at 19:22. Braxton Castagno secured the win with a 24-save effort. Spencer-Dahl stopped 30 of 33 in the loss. Paulsen also added an assist for a two-point game for Dryden. The Bombers went 0-8 on the powerplay, while Dryden was 1-4 with the man advantage.       
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| Sioux Lookout avenged their Friday loss with a 6-4 win in Dryden, before another fine crowd of 659.
The Ice Dogs took an early lead. Payton Hu got his second in two games, scoring in tight over the shoulder of Matthew Spencer-Dahl at 2:04 of the first. Eli Antoine notched his second of the season midway through the initial frame, combining with Emmanuel Nkombou on a Bomber giveaway to double the lead. In between the Dryden goals Spencer-Dahl’s sprawling glove save on Ryland Maier kept the Bombers in the game. The Bombers tied it before the period was out. Garren Voisey’s point shot went under Braxton Castagno’s blocker, and Alex Lucas deflection of a point shot on a 5-on-3 powerplay at 17:00 knotted the score at two-all. The Bombers outscored Dryden 2-1 in the second. Lucas got his second of the game scoring from the top of the slot blocker side and Ty Lone finished off a 2-on-1 to put the Bombers up by a pair. Dryden head coach Jake Gushue swapped out Castagno for Kellan Mooney after Lone’s goal. Emmanuel Nkombou got his 4th of the year on a Dryden powerplay at 17:11 to make it 4-3. A stealthy Ty Kirk slipped behind Dryden’s five forwards and scored shorthanded as the Bombers made it 5-3 at 1:38 of the third. McLaren Paulsen scored along the ice on a Dryden powerplay at 8:56 to cut the lead to one. The score stayed that way until late in the game. Defenceman Peter Zilkalns clear from deep in the Bomber zone found an empty net as the Bombers secured a weekend split with a 6-4 verdict. Zilkalns and Kirk had two point nights for Sioux Lookout. Nkombou added an assist to his goal and Carson Devine led all point producers with a three assist night for Dryden. Dryden took 34 of 52 penalty minutes. Sioux Lookout was 1-10 while Dryden was 2-9 on their respective powerplays.          
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