The two top regular season teams are meeting in the Bill Salonen Cup finals. Both squads are on a roll. Dryden swept Red Lake and Kam River took the broom to Thunder Bay (albeit with three overtime wins). The Walleye also swept Ironwood in the quarterfinals. Below is first-place Dryden’s finals preview.
Kam River vs. Dryden
Season series: Kam River 3-4-0. Dryden 4-3-0.
Most recent: Dec 20 DID 6 KRW 2 at DID.
Other six games: Sep 14 KRW 5 DID 2 at KRW. Sep 15 DID 4 KRW 1 at KRW. Nov 9 DID 7 KRW 4 at DID. Nov 10 KRW 6 DID 2 at DID. Nov 22 KRW 6 DID 1. Nov 23 DID 3 KRW 0 at DID.
DID goals for/goals against: 25-24. KRW goals for/goals against 24-25.
Dryden playoff snapshot:
GF 23 GA 10 Differential +13. PIM 62. Streak 4W.
PP% 46.2. PK% 80.0. SHGA 0. SHGF 2.
Top six playoff offense:
Max Roby, F, GP 4, 4 G, 3 A, 7 Pts, 4 PIM. Eli Antoine, F, GP 4, 3 G, 3 A, 6 Pts, 6 PIM. Evan Mayer, F, GP 4, 1 G, 5 A, 6 Pts, 0 PIM. McLaren Paulsen, F, GP 4, 1 G, 5 A, 6 Pts, 0 PIM. Rylan Oatman, F, GP 4, 4 G, 1 A, 5 Pts, 2 PIM. *Jordan Wales, F, G 4, 2 G, 3 A, 5 Pts, 2 PIM.
Played all four playoff games: Carson Devine, Emmanuel Nkombou, Payton Hu, Elias Eisenbarth, *Karson Kerbes, Nicholas McCallen, McKale Paul, Adam Zimmerman, *Kelby Diehl, *Carter Goreniuk, *Tegan Kerr, Kellan Mooney, *Brodie Scopick
Goaltending:
Kellan Mooney, GP 4, 4-0-0, GAA 2.27, SV% .925, 265 Min.
Noah Davis, Has not played.
Dryden Head Coach Jake Gushue and team captain McLaren Paulsen:
“It’s been a goal since day one,” said coach-of-the-year Gushue about being in the finals.
Fresh off a four-game sweep, the Pack is healthy, looking to make few tweaks before facing the Walleye.
“Obviously, they’re a really skilled team,” said Gushue. “They have a really deep line-up. They’re well-coached by Larry (Wintoneak) over there. There’s a few things we’re going to change to counter their system play. Our key to success is everyone still being bought in, our work ethic and our compete level.”
McLaren Paulsen, in his age-20 season, signed a contract to play university sports with Trinity Western in BC on the very day of our interview (Saturday, April 12). It’s been a goal of his to play university hockey and get an education in business at the same time. Mission accomplished on the signing. Next up: capturing the Bill Salonen Cup.
“Our mindset throughout the year is that we’re the best team is this league,” said Paulsen, “And one of the best teams in Canada. Nothing changes going into the finals. We need four wins to bring “Bill” home and that’s our goal. We’re going to go one game at a time, break those games up into periods. We’re going to attack every period, every opportunity, as if it were our last. That’s the mindset we’ve had these playoffs. That’s how we found success against Red Lake.
“When you speak to the depth of our team, the amount of skill, drive and passion we have, it’s undeniable,” he continued. “All four of our forward lines and even the guys who aren’t in our line-up. Our third line right now has contributed the most in these playoffs. When you have four lines going like that you can keep everyone fresh that’s where you find success . . .”
Gushue views the upcoming series from a league perspective as well.
“It’ll be a really good series. It’s really going to showcase how skilled and how good our league has gotten. We’re looking forward to the test of the finals here.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it went the distance. Every time Dryden goes to Kam River or Kam River comes to Dryden the stands are always packed. Everyone knows there’ll be some good hockey games. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. . . “
Goaltender Kellan Mooney has been a big part of Dryden’s success this year.
“He was actually penciled in as our back-up. He won that starting roll really quickly. He beat out a guy who is a 20-year-old who won a Junior championship in the CCHL,” said Gushue.
Paulsen offered his scouting report on the Fighting Walleye.
“Kam River’s a really, really good hockey team. They have three of the leading scorers (Daxton Lang, Jett Mintenko, Kaden Goodwin). They have a really good goalie (Ashton Sadauskas). Good defencemen, great coaching, good management. Through and through, their four years in the league they’re in the finals every year. There’s a reason for that. You have to give credit where credit is due. They do a great job over there. At the end of the day it’s just about how you match up and I believe we match up really well with them,” Paulsen continued. “We won game seven in the season series at home.”
The Humboldt, SK native and league MVP predicted the teams would eventually square off in the finals. “We went out and beat them 6-2 (on Dec. 20, the last time the teams met). That tells me right there that in big moments great players rise. We have 25 players where that is the case right now.
“When you have great coaches like ours who, day-in-day-out, put in the work in like ours do, everything available for us to be successful, to help us to win a championship, and go to the Centennial Cup in Calgary,” added Paulsen.
