Photos: Kerri-Ann Kanceruk – Kanceruk Photography
Spots one through six are still up for grabs as the SIJHL enters the final week of the regular season.
Dryden has a pair of tough road games to secure the point they need to clinch first place. They play Red Lake on Tuesday and battle the North Stars on Saturday. The Ice Dogs have spent nearly the entire season in first place. The first place team gets a bye in the first round of the playoffs.
The Ice Dogs ended up ranked 13th in the latest CJHL Rankings released March 10th.
Max Roby leads the team with 28 goals and 62 points, one of seven players over 60 points. McLaren Paulsen, Payton Hu and Carson Devine has have 59, 57 and 54 points respectively. Eli Antoine has 45 points.
Kellan Mooney is second in the league with 19 wins.
The Ice Dogs have the SIJHL’s best power play with a 27.3% rating, and has penalty kill of 81.9%.
Kam River visits seventh place Ironwood for two weekend games. A Walleye sweep and two regulation losses by Dryden ties them for first place with 75 points. Kam River has a six game winning streak and are 9-1-0 in their last 10.
Kam River was an honourable mention in the final CJHL Rankings released Monday.
Daxton Lang leads the league with 33 goals and 82 points. Jett Mintenko has 29 snipes and 50 helpers for 79 points. Kaden Goodwin has 62 points. Carter Poddubny has 40 points on the year.
Ashton Sadauskas leads the league in wins with 24, goals against average, 2.34, save percentage, .927, and minutes, 2,000. Back-up Sam Keene has not lost any of his Kam River starts. The midseason acquisition is 7-0-0 as a Walleye.
Thunder Bay has three games left. Ironwood visits the Fort William Gardens on Tuesday. The Stars head down to Fort Frances on Friday, and host Dryden on Saturday.
The Stars have a game in hand on Sioux Lookout. The Bombers and Stars both have 65 points and 30 wins.
Tyler Jordan has 30 goals and 63 points–one of two players to reach 30. Defenceman Tag Bryson leads the SI in assists with 52. Rookie Evan Simeoni leads all rookies with 20 goals and 50 points. Marcellus Francis, 49, Beau Helmeczi, 46 and Alex Remenda, 45, round out the Stars in top-20.
Jarred Feist has 19 points in 14 games with 11 goals.
Keenan Marks is 13-8-3 in net. Liam Letters, 4-1-1, will serve in the back-up role.
Thunder Bay enjoyed a recent spate of power play goals, raising their efficiency to 26.2%. Their penalty kill is 88.3%, still best in the league.
Sioux Lookout travels to Red Lake for Friday and Saturday games to close out the regular season.
Alex Lucas leads the team in scoring with 61 points with 26 goals. Jonah Smith has 51 points. Owen Cotter has 40 points. Brodie Wood, 33, d-man Tait Howell, 32, fellow defenceman Kaden Veller, 31, and Owen Riffel, 30, are next in line. Howell’s 15 goals leads all rearguards. Veller has 13.
Matthew Ofukany is 17-6-0/2.45/.915/1,418 while partner Matthew Spencer-Dahl is 13-7-2/2.72/.919/1,411.
The Bombers have a PP of 17.2% and a PK of 80.6%.
Red Lake has three games left, one against Dryden on Tuesday and two against the Bombers on the weekend.
Nathan Dann has 29 goals and 20 assists for 49 points. Rookie Quinn Szpak has 40 points, defenceman Bryson Carlyle, 34, and Euan Morrison, 31.
Koen Webber, 10-7-2, and Nick Peters, 4-4-2, share net duties.
Red Lake has an 18.7% PP and 74.9% PK.
Fort Frances has 49 games played with the one tilt against the North Stars remaining. Captain Brady Krentz has 50 points to lead the squad. Pierce Gouin and Jack Wood have identical 15 goal 20 assists seasons so far. Wood has 12 power play goals to lead the league in that department. Evan Kabel and Tie Schumacher sit at 32 and 31 points respectively.
Gunner Paradis, 10-8-1, and rookie Nolan Koethler, 7-13-1, share the net.
The Lakers are number two in power play proficiency at 26.7%. The penalty kill operates at a 79.1% clip.
Ironwood travels to Thunder Bay Tuesday and entertains Kam River Friday and Saturday. A win or two would stand them in good stead come playoff time.
Marshall Thomas has 43 points in 43 games. Matteo Salvatore has 31 points. Defenceman Josh Gulden has 27 points, and Collin Baker and Aidan Charron both have 25 points each.
Trent Boryszczuk, 6-13-1/3.87/.918 and Kole Kronstedt, 2-18-2/5.49/.876 tend net.
The Lumberjacks have an 18.1% PP and 65.6% PK.
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AT DRYDEN GM ICE DOGS |
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| Sioux Lookout built a 5-2 lead, weathering a late Dryden comeback, to win 5-4 before 887 fans at Dryden Memorial Arena. The Bombers hold a slim two-point lead over Thunder Bay in the battle for third place. Dryden’s lost a chance to clinch first. The Ice Dogs struck at 21 seconds of the first frame on Elias Eisenbarth’s 10th of the year. Sioux Lookout scored three of the four second period goals. The Bombers scored back-to-back power play goals 42 seconds apart to take a 2-1 lead. Tait Howell’s one-timer, and Sage Roberts 13th on a rebound put the visitors ahead. Max Roby’s drove past a Bomber defender and scored from close range to tie the game at 11:34. Owen Riffel put Sioux Lookout ahead 3-2 with his 16th on a re-direct of Ty Kirk’s shot. Sioux Lookout scored the first two goals of the third to take a three-goal lead. Tait Howell rumbled out of the penalty box in time to score his 15th with a top shelfer over Kellan Mooney’s glove. Roberts got his second of the game, cashing in on a loose puck at 13:02 on a Bombers’ power play to make it 5-2. The Ice Dogs weren’t done yet, however. Carson Devine converted McLaren Paulsen’s centering pass for his 16th at 15:15 on the power play. Karson Kerbes’ howitzer with a minute to go and the Dryden net empty beat Matthew Spencer-Dahl to shave the lead to one. Mooney vacated the cage again with 42 seconds left but the ‘Dogs could not find the equalizer. Spencer-Dahl stopped 22 of 26 for the win, improving his record to 13-7-2. Mooney made 42 saves, losing his fourth against 18 wins and a OT loss. Sioux Lookout struck for three power play goals in seven attempts. Dryden was 1-4. The Ice Dogs blazed a trail to the sin bin, taking 34 of the 42 penalty minutes assessed.           |
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AT DRYDEN GM ICE DOGS |
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| Dryden scored two goals in each period to defeat Fort Frances 6-1. The Ice Dogs are a single point away from clinching first place. The Lakers have a single game left in the regular season to move to try to overtake the Miners for fifth place. Elias Eisenbarth had two goals, Rylan Oatman had a goal and two helpers, Jordan Wales had three assists, McLaren Paulsen and Kelby Diehl had a goal and assist each, and Payton Hu had two assists to pace the Dryden attack. Diehl’s seventh goal of the year at 19:12 of the second was on a Dryden power play. Tie Schumacher broke Kellan Mooney’s shutout bid with 2:32 left in the game on a Fort Frances power play. Mooney made 19 saves for his 19th win. Gunner Paradis had 36 saves for Fort Frances. The Lakers were 1-5 on the power play while Dryden was 1-6. The Lakers took 21 of 40 penalty minutes. The Ice Dogs honoured their graduating players with a post game ceremony. Eli Antoine, Carson Devine, Emmanuel Nkombou, McKale Paul, Max Roby, Adam Zimmerman and Paulsen saluted the fans. A crowd of 327 attended.           |
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