GALLERY: Week 11 Recap

Photos: Kerri-Ann Kanceruk – Kanceruk Photography

Ironwood and Kenora split over the weekend as a number of winning and losing streaks wiped the slate clean entering Week 12.

The North Stars are on a three-game winning streak, Sioux Lookout has a pair of consecutive wins, the Lakers lost a pair to Thunder Bay over the weekend. The rest of the league has a recent win or loss. The SIJHL is quickly approaching the midway point of the 2024-25 regular season.

Dryden split with Kam River, giving them 37 points on the year. McLaren Paulsen leads the league in production with 46 points in 23 games–the only player averaging two points a game. Four other Ice Dogs grace the top-10. Carson Devine, Max Roby, Payton Hu and Eli Antoine are the other main offensive drivers, with Emmanuel Nkombou occupying 13th spot.

Kellan Mooney leads the triple-crown goalie stats with 11 wins, a 2.24 GAA and .928 SV%. He has a further distinction–most shutouts (two).

Second place Sioux Lookout is five points back with two games in hand. The Bombers have allowed 58 goals, least in the league. Alex Lucas has 31 points to lead the team, while Jonah Smith has 21. 

Matthew Ofukany has nine wins and a loss, with a 2.29 GAA and .924 SV%. 

On the minus side, the improving Bomber play is trundling along at 14.1%. The penalty kill is above league average at 83.5%.

Thunder Bay has a tough run, playing Red Lake at home Monday and Tuesday for a four-games-in-five-nights stretch. They won against Fort Frances Friday and Saturday to complete half the job.

The Stars offence is clicking along with 116 goals in 21 games, a league-leading 5.52 goals per game pace. 

Six Stars are in the top-20, led by Tyler Jordan’s 33 points. Beau Helmeczi, Alex Remenda, rookie Evan Simeoni, defenceman Tag Bryson and Cohen Tangedal round out a balanced attack. Bryson has one goal and 25 assists. Tangedal is out with an ankle injury suffered in Friday’s game.

Ben Laurette is 9-3-0 with a 2.69 GAA and .917 SV%. Keenan Marks is 5-3-1/2.98/.911. The penalty kill is still above 90 per cent–90.8 to be exact.

Kam River is a point behind Thunder Bay, five points ahead of Fort Frances. The Fighting Walleye are the third team to crest 100 goals.

Jett Mintenko is second in league scoring (13G, 25A, 38 Pts). Daxton Lang has 35 points. Kaden Goodwin holds down spot 19 with 24 points.

Ashton Sadauskas holds the fort in net, second in minutes with 888. He’s 10-5-0.

Kam River is third in power play proficiency with a 26.3% rating. 

The Lakers are 9-8-5 over their 22 games, ahead of their rebuild schedule of three to five years, according to third-year bench boss Tyler Miller. Gunner Paradis is 5-3-0 in his age-20 year, gaining confidence with each start. Rookie Nolan Koethler is 4-5-1. 

The Lakers have a 29.3% power play, one of the key reasons they’re north of .500. Captain Brady Krentz, in his third year as a Laker, recently celebrated his 100th game and 100th career point. He has 25 points in 22 games this year. Jack Wood has 11 goals and nine assists.

Red Lake is 10-9-2, one point behind the Lakers with a game in hand. The Miners are +4 in goal differential. 

Nathan Dann paces the attack with 14 goals and 27 points–the only Miner in the top-20 (15th). Rookie Quinn Szpak is averaging exactly one point per game.

Ethan Rau has a .500 log in net (2-2-1) with a 2.91 GAA and .899 SV%. Rookie Koen Webber checks in at 6-2-0.

The Miners are the only team that has not allowed a shorthanded goal this season.

Ironwood drubbed the Islanders at home to end their winless streak and to secure their first home ice win. Their 24 games played are one shy of the halfway point of the regular season.

Newcomer Trent Boryszczuk will likely absorb more minutes in net. League ironman Kole Kronstedt has 1,000-plus minutes in the books.

Marshall Thomas has had a monster season, sitting seventh in league scoring with 34 points. Nolan Fowler has 21 points in 22 contests. The ‘Jacks sport the fourth best power play at 24.1%.

Kenora avenged their 8-1 Friday loss against Ironwood with a 4-2 Saturday night win. Ethan Beattie stopped 45 of 47 to snare the victory.

The penalty kill has improved of late, and the penalty minutes have dropped recently as well. Josh Boyko should return to the line-up shortly. He and Gursimar Mann are the two Islanders with 10 or more points.

A Monday game, two on Tuesday, two on Friday and three on Saturday highlight Week 12. A Dryden at Thunder Bay Saturday night tilt is a must watch.


DRYDEN GM ICE DOGS
AT/VS
KAM RIVER FIGHTING WALLEYE
Friday: Dryden 1, Kam River 6
Kam River took game one of the home-and-home with Dryden, scoring three power play goals in the third for a convincing 6-1 win over the Ice Dogs. Ashton Sadauskas secured his 10th win, stopping 26 of 27 shots, to tie Dryden’s Kellan Mooney atop the SIJHL leaderboard.
Kam River’s Sam Sargent scored the lone first period goal on a re-direct at 15:29. Jordan Wales clicked on a one-timer moments after the Ice Dogs killed off a five-on-three to tie the game at 8:06 of the second.
Daxton Lang put the Walleye up to stay, converting Kaden Goodwin’s pass at 12:54 of the middle frame. Zach Baumann’s shorthanded tally at 16:25 made it 3-1.
Jett Mintenko, Carter Poddubny and Carter Nailen added three third period power play markers starting with Mintenko’s 13th at 12:53.
Poddubny scored his ninth on the doorstep. Nailen’s one-timer nailed down the verdict as the Walleye fired 20 shots at Braxton Castagno in the final stanza. Final shots favoured Kam River 41 to 27.
Castagno fell to 7-3-1 while Sadauskas rose to 10-4-0, with a 2.75 goals against and .911 save percentage.
Four Walleye players had two points. Mintenko, Lang and Poddubny had a goal and assist each. Goodwin recorded two helpers.
Kam River made inroads on Dryden’s league-best 32.4% power play, killing off four Ice Dogs power plays while going 3-7 with a shorty to boot.
Dryden took 31 of 53 penalty minutes.
A total of 658 fans packed Norwest Arena.


Saturday: Kam River 0, Dryden 3
Dryden avenged Friday’s loss with a shutout win on Saturday. Kellan Mooney won his 11th of the year, out-dueling Kam River counterpart Ashton Sadauskas for the win.
Dryden outshot the Walleye 49-30.
After a scoreless first period, Payton Hu struck 30 seconds into the second on a Dryden power play. Hu deflected Carson Devine’s shot past Sadauskas to break the ice. Devine has 26 helpers on the year, and Roby got his 17th assist on the play.
Devine, Hu and Roby sit third, fourth and fifth in league scoring.
Evan Mayer struck two minutes into the third, scoring unassisted, with help from the lively Dryden backboards that sent the puck back his way. Devine added an empty netter with 43 seconds left to seal the deal.
Mooney leads the league in wins (11), GAA (2.24) and SV% (.928). He became the only SIJHL goalie this year to record two shutouts.
The Walleye took 36 of 62 penalty minutes. Kam River was 0-8 with the man advantage, while the Ice Dogs were 1-8.
The game drew 392 fans.