Week 17 Recap

Dryden took three of four points last week. Their current points streak is 10 games. The Ice Dogs have a lone home tilt against on Friday night against the North Stars in Week 18. The Ice Dogs dropped from 11th to 13th in the CJHL rankings released Monday, January 20th.

McLaren Paulsen continues to lead the team with 50 points. Max Roby (48), Carson Devine (45) and Payton Hu (43) are in the SIJHL top 10. Eli Antoine (39) and Emmanuel Nkombou (35) are in the top 20. Nkombou’s 110 penalty minutes tops the charts.

Kellan Mooney is 15-2-1 and leads the SI with a 2.34 goals against average.

Dryden’s power play ranks second at 28.4% and the penalty kill is third at 82.8%.

Kam River tees up a weekend pair at home against Red Lake in Week 18. The Walleye are 7-3-0 in their last 10. They’re a point ahead of Sioux Lookout in the battle for second place.

Daxton Lang paces the league in goals (25), assists (39) and points (64). Jett Mintenko has 60 points with 23 goals. Kaden Goodwin (19-29-48) is 6th in scoring. Edwin Liang is third among defencemen with 24 points.

Ashton Sadauskas is carrying the freight in net, sporting a league-leading 17 wins and 1,484 minutes between the pipes.

On special teams, Kam River has a 26.0% PP and 82.5% PK.

The Bombers swept a pair against Ironwood and have a lone game in Kenora on tap. Sioux Lookout has the longest current winning streak at six consecutive victories.

Alex Lucas (24-23-47) and Jonah Smith (12-28-40) pace the team in scoring. Matthew Ofukany is 14-3-0 in net. He crested the 1,000-minute mark with 1,022 last week. Matthew Spencer-Dahl is 7-6-1 in 961 minutes. The Bombers lead the SIJHL with the lowest GAA overall (90 goals in 34 games).

The Bombers improved to 16.4% and 83.7% on the power play and penalty kill respectively.

Thunder Bay won one of their three Week 17 games and will play three different opponents in Week 18. They entertain Red Lake in a rare Wednesday morning (11:00 a.m. EST) start at the Gardens. The Stars hit the road for a Friday match against Dryden and a Saturday contest in Fort Frances.

Tyler Jordan is 4th in league scoring with 23 goals and 26 assists. Five of his teammates: Beau Helmeczi, 40, Marcellus Francis and Evan Simeoni 37, Tag Bryson, 36, and Alex Remenda, 33, are in the top-20. Francis hit 20 goals in 24 games. Bryson leads all defencemen in points.

Keenan Marks, 9-7-2/2.88/.919, will likely see the bulk of work in net.

Thunder Bay’s power play is at 23.7% and the penalty kill is an outstanding 89.7%.

Fort Frances recorded a confidence building 4-3 OT win over Dryden last Saturday. Ironwood and Thunder Bay visit this Ice For Kids Arena this weekend.

Brady Krentz, 17 goals and 24 assists, is the Lakers top scorer. Jack Wood, Pierce Gouin and Tie Schumacher and Evan Kabel add depth to the offence. The Lakers number one 29.9% power play and solid goaltending are front and centre of their revival. Gunnar Paradis is 8-4-0 with a 2.72 GAA and .928 SV%. Nolan Koethler is 7-8-1 with a 3.52/.907 slash line.

Red Lake is in a seven-game losing streak and had Week 17 off due to postponed games. They travel to Thunder Bay for a Wednesday game and then host the Fighting Walleye on the weekend. Despite the recent dry spell their goal differential is still only minus-5.

Nathan Dann is the lone Miner in the top-20 with 34 points. Quinn Szpak has 30 points in 31 games. Rookie Koen Webber leads the squad with an 8-6-1 record between the pipes. The Miners have a 17.6% power play and 77.1% penalty kill.

Ironwood is on a four-game losing streak, 3-7-0 in their last 10. They have a lone road game against Fort Frances on Friday.

Leading the way offensively is Marshall Thomas with 17 goals and 24 helpers. Matteo Salvatore, Aidan Charron, Josh Gulden and Collin Baker are all over 20 points. The Lumberjacks have 97 team goals.

Trent Boryszczuk is 6-7-1 in net, sporting a .933 SV%. Kole Kronstedt is among the leaders in net time with 1,207 minutes.

The Lumberjacks have a 21.1% PP and a 63.2% PK. Ironwood has the least penalty minutes, 438, in the league.

Kenora host Sioux Lookout on Friday in their lone Week 18 game. Week 17 saw two Islanders games postponed.


THUNDER BAY NORTH STARS
AT
DRYDEN GM ICE DOGS
Tuesday: Thunder Bay 3, Dryden 6
Eli Antoine scored the game winner at 16:42 of the third and Kellan Mooney made 41 saves as Dryden stretched their points streak to nine games with a 6-3 win over Thunder Bay before 450 fans at Dryden Memorial Arena. Payton Hu tacked on an insurance marker at 17:47 and Emmanuel Nkombou slid in an empty netter with 11 seconds left in the game while killing a penalty to account for the final score.
Thunder Bay tied the game at 3-3 at 12:56 of the third on a Connor Larrett face off win and subsequent goal by Acoyen Fehr.
The Ice Dogs opened up a six-point lead atop the standings while snapping the Stars five-game winning streak .
Dryden jumped out to a 1-0 lead 21 seconds into the contest. Elias Eisenbarth hit double-digits with his 10th on a rebound past Keenan Marks. Thunder Bay replied with two goals late in the frame. Chance Loke got his second of the year on a wrist shot on a Thunder Bay powerplay at 16:32, and Tyler Jordan scored on a 2-on-1 at 17:58 on a partial breakaway.
Dryden tied the game and took a 3-2 lead by 2:23 of the second period. Jordan Wales scored on the power play at 1:47 after Marks stymied several Dryden chances, and Max Roby fed Carson Devine 36 seconds later for his 13th marker of the year.
The teams battled through 30 minutes of scoreless play until Fehr tied the contest at 3-3. Dryden struck for three goals in less than three minutes late in the third salting it away.
Antoine added a pair of assists to secure first star status. His lone goal was his 20th. Nkombou also had an assist and Roby chipped in with two helpers for Dryden.
Marcellus Francis had two assists for Thunder Bay. Dryden outshot Thunder Bay 46-44. Thunder Bill killed off a five-minute major to Beau Helmeczi in the first, and Eisenbarth had two shot blocks in addition to his goal.
Dryden took 19 of 37 penalty minutes in the contest. Both teams were 1-4 with the man advantage.


FORT FRANCES LAKERS
AT/VS
DRYDEN GM ICE DOGS
Friday: Fort Frances -, Dryden –
Postponed
Saturday: Dryden 3, Fort Frances 4 (OT)
It took two gunners, but the Fort Frances Lakers defeated the first place Dryden Ice 4-3 in overtime. Gunnar Simon’s fifth goal of the year at 5:10 of extra time and Gunner Paradis’ 39 saves proved decisive as the Lakers overcame a 3-1 first period deficit for arguably their biggest win of the year.
Evan Mayer’s one-timer on a 2-on-1 drew first blood as the Dogs scored at 3:48 of the first frame. Tie Schumacher’s ninth on a breakaway high glove on Kellan Mooney tied it at 5:05. Emmanuel Nkombou breakout pass sent Max Roby into the clear for his 23rd at 11:56. Brodie Scopick’s first as an Ice Dog, a dangle followed by a backhander, put the visitors up by 3-1 through 20 minutes.
Fort Frances tied it up 3-3 in the second. Carter Deschamps snuck one under Mooney’s pad unassisted at 7:18, and Simon’s first of the game on a Schumacher assist knotted the score.
Shots were 27-24 in favour of Dryden through two periods and were 11 apiece in a scoreless third. Dryden outshot Fort Frances 4-3 in overtime.
Dryden’s Evan Mayer and McKale Paul had good chances against Paradis in overtime, and Mooney shut down Nolan Barker’s opportunity before Simon’s strike. Barker’s point shot was redirected by Ian Ness and Simon was there to cash the rebound.
The fifth-place Lakers are eight points behind Thunder Bay and have a nine point lead on the Red Lake Miners. Kam River’s win coupled with Dryden’s lone point gives Dryden a five point lead atop the SIJHL standings with a two-games in hand on the Walleye. Despite the overtime loss, the Ice Dogs have points in 10 straight.
Paradis improved his record to 8-4-0 while Mooney fell–gently–to 15-2-1.
The SIJHL’s two top power plays were held off the scoresheet. Dryden was 0-2, Fort Frances was 0-4. Attendance at Ice For Kids Arena was 351.