Photos: Kerri-Ann Kanceruk
Fort Frances swept a home and home series with Kam River and Kenora defeated first place Sioux Lookout 4-3 in overtime to highlight week three action in the SIJHL. Thunder Bay sent Red Lake two home losses their way, and allowed their first powerplay goal against of their year in the process (Now 96.0 per cent success rate on the penalty kill with a shorty).
Ironwood has yet to win in regulation, dropping a pair in Dryden by lopsided scores. The Ice Dogs have the top four spots in the scoring race, led by Emmanuel Nkombou (7G 7A 14 pts) and McLaren Paulsen (4-10-14). Matthew Ofukany of Sioux Lookout leads all goaltenders with a 2.00 goals against, and his partner Matthew Spencer-Dahl has a .938 save percentage. They join seven others with two wins between the pipes.
Eight games are on tap next week, featuring the first Thursday game of the year.
Here’s how week three shook out.
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AT DRYDEN GM ICE DOGS |
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| Dryden used hat trick performances from Carson Devine and Payton Hu to garner a 9-3 win over Ironwood before 427 fans at Dryden Memorial Arena. Hu added three assists and Devine one, while Elias Eisenbarth and McLaren Paulsen had goals and assists each. Emmanuel Nkombou had three assists and Max Roby two to buoy the Pack attack. Kellan Mooney made 22 stops to secure the win. Dryden poured in five unanswered first period goals, led by Devine’s three and two by Hu. Eli Antoine made it 6-0 before Aidan Charron scored on a Lumberjacks’ powerplay. Hu got his hat trick midway through the middle frame. Jack Hanna replied for Ironwood. Paulsen scored shorthanded at 16:37 and Eisenbarth made it 9-2 at 18:01 of the middle stanza. Julian Calcagnino got his fourth of the year for Ironwood in the third period. Kole Kronstedt came on in relief played most of the game, stopping 36 of 42 in 52:34 of action for Ironwood. Sam Keene was the Lumberjacks’ starter, lasting 7:26, stopping seven of 10, to take the loss. Dryden was 2-4 with the man advantage while Ironwood was 1-7. The ‘Dogs had seven minors to Ironwood’s five. Attendance was 427.        |
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| Dryden romped to a 10-2 win over the Lumberjacks and grabbed a share of second place in the SIJHL standings. Emmanuel Nkombou had a hat trick and two assists to lead the way. Payton Hu had two goals and a helper, McLaren Paulsen had four points with a goal and three assists, and Eli Antoine added three points including a goal. Max Roby, Rylan Oatman and Evan Mayer had a goal and assist each. Braxton Castagno had 13 saves in the win. Kole Kronstedt was pulled after two periods, having sustained eight goals on 33 shots. Mathias Anderson shunted aside eight of ten in relief. Three Dryden goals were on the powerplay. Hu, Nkombou and Paulsen helped the ‘Dogs go 3-6 with the man advantage. Chris Krtanjek scored a rare powerplay goal on an Ironwood penalty shot. Colin Baker had the other Lumberjacks’ goal. Ironwood was 1 for 5. Ironwood took 38 of 64 penalty minutes meted out. The Dryden Memorial Arena was rockin’ with 563 fans in attendance.           |
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