Photos: Kerri-Ann Kanceruk – Kanceruk Photography
The powerhouse Dryden Ice Dogs enter Week 19 in unfamiliar territory. They lost one in overtime and one in regulation to see their lead dwindle to two points over Kam River. The Pack still has games in hand–three over the second place Fighting Walleye for example–but the stage is set for an dramatic end to the regular season.
The ‘Dogs slipped three slots to 16th place in the latest CJHL rankings released January 27th.
Sioux Lookout and Thunder Bay are four points off the pace.
Max Roby and McLaren Paulsen have 50 points each, with Carson Devine at 46 and Payton Hu at 44. Eli Antoine, 39, and Emmanuel Nkombou, 35, are in the top-20.
Kellan Mooney has posted exceptional numbers all year long as Dryden’s number one netminder. His 2.34 goals against average is .01 off the league lead. His 15 wins are second and his save percentage is .926.
Dryden’s power play is 27.7% and their penalty kill is 82.1%.
Kam River took three of four possible points against Red Lake last weekend. Daxton Lang and Jett Mintenko are one-two in points. Lang has 66 points and Mintenko has 63–the only two players above 60. Line mate Kaden Goodwin has 48.
Ashton Sadauskas leads the SIJHL in wins (17) and minutes 1,551. His 2.48 GAA and .927 GAA are up there as well. Sam Keene has six consecutive wins between the pipes for the Walleye, including two shutouts.
Kam River’s plus-84 goal differential is tops in the league. The Walleye have a home tilt Tuesday against Sioux Lookout and then a home series against Kenora on the weekend.
Sioux Lookout has seven consecutive wins, the top current streak in the SIJHL. They’ll be tested this week. The Bombers play in Kam River on Tuesday, and then host Dryden for two on the weekend.
Alex Lucas has 25 goals and 48 points overall. Jonah Smith’s 43 points are good for 12th among league scorers. Owen Cotter, 32, Tait Howell, 28, and Ty Kirk, 25, are in the top-30.
The Bombers are two points behind Kam River with two games in hand on the Walleye.
Matthew Ofukany, 14-3-0/2.33/.917, and Matthew Spencer-Dahl 8-6-1/2.68/.922, provide an exceptional one-two punch in net.
The Bombers power play is 17.1% but the penalty kill is second in the league at 83.7%.
Thunder Bay’s productive weekend–road wins against Dryden and Fort Frances–has them tied with Sioux Lookout for third place.
Tyler Jordan is third in league scoring with 54 points, 24 of them goals. Beau Helmeczi has 43 points in 30 games. Tag Bryson’s 40 assists (and lone goal) has him in 14th place. Marcellus Francis, 39 points in 27 games, rookie Evan Simeoni, 38 points, and Alex Remenda, 33 points, are in the top-20. The Stars are plus-70 in goal differential.
Thunder Bay’s power play is 25.7% and the penalty kill is number one at 89.2%.
Keenan Marks is 10-7-2/2.84/.922 and back-up Liam Letters is 2-0-1/2.30/.942 in his brief time with the team.
Fort Frances is 11 points behind Thunder Bay and eight points ahead of Red Lake, solidly ensconced in fifth place.
Leading the team offensively is captain Brady Krentz with 43 points. Jack Wood, 30, Tie Schumacher, 26, and Evan Kabel, 25, are next in line.
Gunner Paradis continues his fine season between the pipes. Paradis is approaching 1,000 minutes while posting a 9-5-0 record with a 2.62/.932 GAA/SV%. Rookie Nolan Koethler is 7-8-1/3.52/.907 in just under 1,200 minutes.
The Lakers power play is league-leading at 30.2%, while the PK is 80.5%.
Red Lake is locked in sixth place. The Miners had a recent 2-2 overtime draw with Kam River, and a huge regulation win over Thunder Bay on Wednesday. They lost 5-0 to Kam River on Saturday, but outshot the Walleye 41-29 in that game.
The Miners have a 17.3% PP and 76.5% PK.
Leading scorer Nathan Dann is the lone Miner in the top-20. Dann has 19 goals and 18 helpers. Rookie Quinn Szpak, 31 points, and defenceman Bryson Carlyle, 24 points in 31 games, are other key contributors.
Nick Peters has been the goalie of choice recently, posting a 1-3-0 record in his five games. Rookie Koen Webber is 8-6-1 in 929 minutes.
The Miners have three games this week, one against Kenora and a home and home with Fort Frances.
Ironwood entertains Thunder Bay in a weekend pair in Week 18.
Marshall Thomas leads the team offensively with 41 points. Matteo Salvatore, defenceman Josh Gulden, Aidan Charron and Collin Baker are all over 20 points.
Trent Boryszczuk is 6-8-1 with a 3.13 GAA and outstanding .934 SV%. Kole Kronstedt is the team minutes leader with 1,207.
The Lumberjacks have a 21.2% power play. Their penalty kill is 62.8%. The Lumberjacks have just 456 penalty minutes. They are the only team below 500 minutes in the bin.
Kenora faces Red Lake on Tuesday and venture to Norwest Arena for two against a hungry Kam River team.
The Islanders have 59 goals for and 261 against and are in dire need of a morale-boosting win. They are currently on a ten-game slide.
Josh Boyko has 16 points in 23 games, the top scorer in the line-up. Captain Tallen Caron has 13 points in 31 games.
The Islanders have 739 penalty minutes as a team (23.1 minutes per game), virtually equal to Dryden on a per game basis.
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AT DRYDEN GM ICE DOGS |
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| Keenan Marks stopped 34 of 36 for his 10th win as the Stars pulled out a 5-2 win before 538 fans at Dryden Memorial Arena. Acoyen Fehr, Beau Helmeczi and Tyler Jordan had goals and assists for Thunder Bay, and defenceman Tag Bryson had three assists (giving him 40 helpers on the year). The Stars erased a 2-1 deficit with the final four goals of the contest. Former Red Lake Miner Noah Davis stopped 32 of 36 to even his Dryden record to 1-1-0. Emmanuel Nkombou had the lone goal of the first, jamming away at a loose puck and getting one off a North Star skate at 9:08 on an Ice Dogs power play. Helmeczi tied the game on a Thunder Bay power play at 7:51 of the second, snapping home his 15th. The tie was short-lived. Jordan Wales put the ‘Dogs ahead 1:26 later, playing a rebound off the boards and firing it past Marks for his 10th. Fehr and Jordan scored Thunder Bay power play goals to put the Stars ahead. Fehr was wide open for his sixth at 12:03 and Jordan got his 24th on a rebound. The Stars put the game away with late goals in the third. Alex Remenda scored a Dryden turnover at 17:12, and Eric Sheriff added an empty netter with 18 seconds left to seal the deal. Thunder Bay was 3-10 with the man advantage while Dryden was 1-7 in a physical affair. The Ice Dogs took 41 of 61 penalty minutes |
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