Photos: Kerri-Ann Kanceruk – Kanceruk Photography
A total of 169 out of 200 SIJHL regular season games are in the books. Week 21 resumes February 17th with three Monday afternoon games.
Kenora’s premature end to the 2024-25 season led to a number of 1-0 forfeit wins being distributed among the affected teams. The additional points led to a re-jig of the standings. Dryden secured four wins in the process. The Ice Dogs emerged with a seven point lead atop the SIJHL standings through Week 20. The Ice Dogs are ranked 18th in the latest CJHL poll.
Dryden has six scorers in the top 20 led by Max Roby’s 25 goals and 56 points. McLaren Paulsen, who hasn’t played since December 21st, has 50, tied with Payton Hu. Carson Devine has 47 points. Eli Antoine and Emmanuel Nkombou have 41 and 35 points respectively.
Kellan Mooney has 16 wins, with a 2.33 GAA and .932 SV%.
Dryden has the number two power play at 27.0% and an 82.8% penalty kill.
Kam River is on a seven-game points streak. Their goal differential is plus-96, tops in the league. Their ratio of goals for to goals against is over 2:1. The Walleye are 20th in the most recent CJHL rankings. Daxton Lang and Jett Mintenko are one-two in point production with 67 and 65 points. Both have 26 goals. Line mate Kaden Goodwin has 52 points. Carter Poddubny has 32.
Ashton Sadauskas leads the SIJHL in goaltending wins with 19, and time on ice, 1,671 minutes. His 2.37 GAA and .929 SV% are among the league leaders. Sam Keene is 6-0-0 as a Walleye.
On special teams the Fighting Walleye are 25.6% on the PP and 83.6% (second in the league) on the PK.
Sioux Lookout is tied with Thunder Bay with 56 points. The Bombers are on a 11-game points streak. Sioux Lookout has played 39 games, fewest in the league.
Alex Lucas, 52 points, and Jonah Smith, 45 points, pace the team in scoring. Owen Cotter and Tait Howell have 33 and 30 points respectively.
Matthew Ofukany is 16-3-0/2.28/.921 and Matthew Spencer-Dahl is 10-6-1/2.66/.922 in net. Ofukany has 1,209 minutes. Spencer-Dahl has 1,081.
The Bombers have a 15.7% PP and 78.0% PK.
Thunder Bay has not lost in regulation in seven straight games. Their 188 goals in 40 games ranks first on a goals-per-game basis.
The North Stars have six players in the top-20. Captain Tyler Jordan has 29 goals to lead the league. He sits third in point production with 61.
Defenceman Tag Bryson has 46 points to lead all rearguards. His 45 assists are number one among all players. Rookie Evan Simeoni is the top rookie scorer with 44 points. Beau Helmeczi also has 44 points, Marcellus Francis has 43 and Alex Remenda has 39.
Keenan Marks is 10-7-2/2.93/.922 in his age-20 season. Liam Letters is 3-0-1/2.47/.935 since joining the team.
Thunder Bay has a 25.5% PP and 89.0% PK. The sum of those two, 114.5%, is league-leading.
Fort Frances is ten points behind Thunder Bay, six points up on Red Lake.
Brady Krentz hit 20 goals and has 25 assists. Jack Wood has 14 goals overall–a league-leading 11 of them on the power play. Wood has 31 points. Pierce Gouin and Evan Kabel have 29 points each.
Gunner Paradis is 10-6-0/2.70/.931 through 20 games. Rookie Nolan Koethler is 7-10-1.
The Lakers have the SI’s best power play at 29.3% and have an 80.0% penalty kill.
Red Lake is 5-2-3 in their last 10 but are winless in their last three.
Nathan Dann paces the team with 23 goals and 42 points. Rookie Quinn Szpak has 33 points and defenceman Bryson Carlyle has 26.
Rookie Koen Webber is 9-6-2 in net. Newcomer Nick Peters is 1-4-1.
The Miners sport a 17.4% PP and 78.0% PK.
Ironwood picked up eight points with four Kenora forfeits. The Lumberjacks have a win, an overtime tie and eight losses in their last ten games decided on the ice.
Marshall Thomas has 17 goals and 25 assists. Matteo Salvatore (27 points), Collin Baker (25), Aidan Charron (24) and Josh Gulden (23) are next.
Trent Boryszczuk, 6-10-1/3.66/.924, and Kole Kronstedt, 2-18-1/5.63/.872, tend goal.
The Lumberjacks have a 19.8% PP and 65.2% PK. Ironwood has the fewest penalty minutes with 529 in 43 games.
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VS/AT RED LAKE MINERS |
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| Payton Hu scored two and Kellan Mooney made 51 stops as the Ice Dogs skated to a 5-2 win before 515 fans at Dryden Memorial Arena. The game featured some big hits and a couple of fights, teeing up Saturday’s return match in Red Lake. Brodie Scopick deflected Adam Zimmerman’s point shot for a 1-0 Dryden lead late in the first. Jordan Wales and Rylen Oatman, both with their 11th goals, made it 3-0 in the second. Wales connected on the power play, and Kelby Diehl found Oatman open at 16:17. Mooney made back-to-back great saves prior to Oatman’s goal. Payton Hu made it 4-0 at 1:30 of the third. Red Lake’s Bryson Carlyle’s thunderous–and legal–hit on Wales early in the third set the stage for a physical final period. Carlyle and Scopick tangled at 4:08, and Matthew MacPherson and Adam Zimmerman fought at 15:01. Red Lake’s Nathan Dann broke Mooney’s shut out at 12:55 on a Miners’ power play, finding just enough space to fire in his 23rd from a tough angle. Hu’s second of the period and 20th of the year, made it 5-1 at 18:30. Kayne Pawlick ended the scoring with 29 seconds left, making it 5-2. Nick Peters took the loss in the Red Lake net, stopping 50 of 55. Mooney saw his record improve to 16-3-1. Dryden was 1-5 with the man advantage. Red Lake was 1-6. Exactly one hour’s worth of penalty minutes were called, with the Ice Dogs claiming 36 of the 60 minutes. |
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| Max Roby scored with 22 seconds left in overtime as the Ice Dogs defeated Red Lake 4-3 at Cochenour Arena. Noah Davis secured the win with a 39-save performance. Roby added a pair of assists and Payton Hu had a two point night for the Ice Dogs. No lead was secure. Noah Tenney opened the scoring at 5:19 of the first, cashing in a rebound for his ninth of the year. Hu’s 21st, a behind-the-net bank shot off Koen Webber tied the game three minutes later. The second period was scoreless but physical. A total of nine minor penalties were meted out in the middle frame. Carson Devine struck for a Dryden 5-on-3 power play marker at 36 seconds of the third. Foxx McColl knotted the score at 3:13, snapping home his first goal of the season from the high slot. Eli Antoine put home Evan Mayer’s rebound midway through the period. The 3-2 Dryden lead lasted until the final minute of regulation. With the Red Lake net empty and after a pair of Dryden icings Landon van Engelen deflected a Bryson Carlyle point shot past Davis with a minute to go to tie the game at 3-3. Red Lake outshot Dryden 3-2 in extra time. With time running out Roby rumbled down the right wing after accepting a pass from Jordan Wales, angled in for a better sight line, and fired it past Webber for the decider. Red Lake took 30 of the 44 penalty minutes. The Ice Dogs were 1-7 on the power play while killing off four Red Lake chances. |
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