October 24, 2021
Oliver Paipoonge, ON
The Kam River Fighting Walleye returned to their home barn for the first time since the opening night of the regular season, and earned a weekend sweep against a hard-working Wisconsin Lumberjacks squad.
The Fighting Walleye opened up a big lead early in game 1 on Friday night and never looked back en route to a 7-0 victory.
In the first game for Kam River at NorWest with full spectator capacity, the home team did not disappoint the crowd of 409, carrying the play from the opening whistle right through to the final buzzer.
Colton Crysler opened the scoring for the Walleye halfway through the first period, on a goal mouth scramble. Just a minute later, Carson Gorst took a pretty pass from Captain Zach Fortin and roofed a shot to give the Fish a 2-0 lead. After Alex Enegren tipped Josh Robinson’s point shot in, Crysler buried his second goal of the
period, andthe Fighting Walleye skated to their dressing room up 4-0 after the first frame.
The second stanza was a more even territorially with Wisconsin having some quality scoring opportunities but not being able to beat Walleye goaltender Austin Madge, who was spectacular on the night. Kam River held on to their 4 goal lead until late in the 2 nd , when Keaton Mercredi intercepted a pass and scored a pretty shorthanded breakaway goal to make the score 5-0 Fighting Walleye after 2 periods.
Tempers flared in the 3 rd period, a rivalry blossoming between the two squads, who were meeting each other for the first time ever. 5 minutes into the period, Jeremy Dunmore scored his second goal of the season off of a nice tip-pass from Gorst.
The Lumberjacks pressed hard to get on the board, but once again Madge turned them away. The goaltender from Kelowna, BC made 33 saves on the night in earning his first shutout of the season. Christian Veneruzzo scored at the buzzer to round out the scoring.
Scoring Summary
1 st period
11:49 KRW Crysler (2), Asst: Fortin, Osborne
12:35 KRW Gorst (1), Asst: Fortin, Dunmore
15:58 KRW Enegren (2), Asst: Robinson, Mercredi
16:25 KRW Crysler (3), Asst: Osborne, Goodman
2 nd period
18:31 KRW Mercredi (2), Asst: NONE (SH)
3 rd Period
5:35 KRW Dunmore (2), Asst: Gorst, DesRosiers
19:59 KRW Veneruzzo (1), Asst: Crysler, McLeod
3 Stars of the Game
1 st Star – Colton Crysler
2 nd Star – Austin Madge
3 rd Star – Zach Fortin
Game 2 on Saturday night was a much closer matchup, until the third period when the undermanned Wisconsin squad seemed to run out of steam.
The two teams battled hard in a physical first period, but neither could find the back of the net. The score would remain knotted at zeros until midway through the 2 nd period when Walleye affiliate
player Luca Ricciardi, playing his first junior game, completed a pretty passing play with Jeremy Dunmore to give the home team a 1-0 lead.
Trenton Morriseau picked up a rebound and scored his 3 rd goal of the season just 2 minutes later, and Kam River headed to the dressing room with a 2-0 lead after 2 periods of play.
The floodgates opened for the Fighting Walleye in the third. Ethan Lang hammered home a slap shot for a rare 5-on-3 shorthanded goal just 3 minutes into the final frame. Wisconsin player Caeden Phelps got his team on the board with his 2nd goal of the year, but 45 seconds later, Dunmore buried his 3rd of the season to restore the
Walleye 3-goal lead.
Alex Enegren would take two beautiful feeds from Trenton Morriseau and score his 4th and 5th goals of the regular season, to complete the scoring and give the Fish a 6-1 victory. The line of Enegren, Morriseau and Lang combined for 9 points in the game.
Austin Madge was once again spectacular between the
pipes for Kam River, turning aside 31 of 32 shots for his third victory of the season.
The Fighting Walleye head out on the road next weekend, first to Fort Frances to play the Lakers on Friday night, followed by a Saturday night visit to Dryden.
Scoring Summary
1 st Period
No scoring
2 nd Period
8:45 KRW Ricciardi (1), Asst: Dunmore, Mercredi
11:06 KRW Morriseau (3), Asst: Enegren, Fortin
3 rd Period
3:23 KRW Lang (3), Asst: NONE (SH)
5:07 WIS Phelps (2), Asst: NONE
5:52 KRW Dunmore (3), Asst: Gorst
7:06 KRW Enegren (4), Asst: Morriseau, Lang
17:45 KRW Enegren (5), Asst: Morriseau, Lang
G and G Excavating 3 Stars of the Game
1 st Star – Alex Enegren
2 nd Star – Trenton Morriseau
3 rd Star – Luca Ricciardi