By Gary Moskalyk
Just like that, before you knew it, the halfway point of the 2022-23 SIJHL regular season has arrived in time for Christmas.
Ten games are featured, starting Tuesday night with the storied rivalry between Thunder Bay and Dryden, ending with a three-game re-visit of last year’s SIJHL final between Red Lake and Kam River culminating on Sunday. All seven teams will see action.
Dryden 13-7-0 GF 88 GA 61 @ Thunder Bay 11-6-3 GF 79 GA 64, Tue/Wed Dec 13/14
Dryden has the second highest winning percentage in the SIJHL at .650. They lead the league in goals per game (GPG) at 4.40 and score 1.35 more goals per game than they allow, second in the league. They are the most penalized team(32.6 minutes) and have the best power play (23.3%). Their penalty kill is at 85.3%.
Bryce Benfield has 26 points and has played in all 20 games. Ryland Maier (8-12-20) is second in team scoring. Landen Stromme’s 12 goals is tops on the club. James Hooton and Jordan Pfoh have 17 points apiece. Ben Hackl, injured for the eight games at the beginning of the year, has 14 points in 12 games. Captain Brady Frattinger also has 14.
Max Roby is 7-6-13 in just nine contests.
Easton Debray’s 12 points and five goals leads the D-corps.
Eric Clark has eight wins in net with 3.02 GAA and .899 SV%. Zac MacDonald has five wins, a 2.81 GAA and .897 SV%.
Thunder Bay’s power play has slowly been drifting downward in recent games. The good news is the team is 6-2-2 in its last 10, and is +15 with a .625 winning percentage
The club has only played 20 games so far. Only one, a 5-4 win on Nov. 26, was against Dryden. Expect a grueling eight more regular season matches.
Edison Weeks continues to pace the team in goals (13) and points (22). Dylan Winsor is second with an 8-12-20 log. Noah Broughton has 16 points in 16 games and Dimitri Trahiotis has 15 points in 15 games.
Defenceman Carter Anton has 12 assists. Colby Feist is 6-5-11 in his eight games. Jake Parker and Jamie Fuchs are 3-7-10 and 4-5-9 in their eight games.
Keenan Marks is undefeated in regulation with 5-0-1 record, 35 minutes shy of qualifying for the leaderboard. If he did qualify his 1.87 GAA and .948 SV% would lead the league. Conner Lemieux has a 6-3-2 record with a 3.07 GAA and .917 SV%.
Fort Frances 5-19-0 GF 53 GA 137 @ Wisconsin 8-16-3 GF 106 GA 128, Wed Dec 14
Fort Frances is on a five-game losing streak entering the final week of 2022. They are 0-4-0 against Wisconsin this season.
Ryker Watt leads the team in scoring with nine goals and 17 points. Clark Scaddan is 8-6-14 in 22 games. Kevin Bond’s productive weekend gives him six goals and six assists in 18 games.
Ryan Tanner and Brenden Stroble have been under siege all year. Tanner has a 5.52 GAA and .889 SV%, and Stroble’s at 6.09 GAA and .884 SV%.
Fort has a 15.1% PP rating and a 69.6% PK.
The Lakers average 19.2 penalty minutes per game.
Wisconsin has the top four scorers in the league, making their .352 W/L pct. all the more mystifying.
Ryder McMillen leads the SIJHL with 47 points. Defenceman Zach Carson is second with a 16-22-38 log. Sal Poggiali 14-18-32 and Dillon Phillips 9-21-30 round out the fab four. Defenceman Dylan Jouppi has a 1-21-22 line and Brandon McDonald is 4-17-21. That’s six players in the top-17.
The power play is at 16.8%. League average is 17.1%. Penalty kill is 80.8. League average is 82.9%. They’re an exciting team to watch with a man advantage, allowing eight short-handed, while scoring six when they’re down a man.
Kyler Lowden is 6-7-2 in net with a 4.35 GAA and .889 SV%. Emmett Doherty is 2-4-0 with 4.59/.894 numbers.
Wisconsin averages 16.4 penalty minutes per game, lowest in the league.
Red Lake 12-10-04 GF 93 GA 91 @ Kam River 21-5-1 GF 110 GA 73 Fri/Sat/Sun Dec 16-18
Red Lake is tied for second place in the SIJHL, bunched in a cluster of four teams separated by three points.
The Miners have a 2-2-1 record against Kam River so far, including a 9-1 home win on October 8th. These three games will leave them with eight games played against the SI’s top club.
Red Lake has the best penalty kill in the league at 87.4%. They’ve also scored six short-handed, tied with Dryden. The power play is 15.0%.
Jacob Lamoureux has 19 goals to lead the league in scoring. Colton Crysler–obtained from Kam River–has 27 points with 13 goals and 14 helpers. Aiden Corbett has 24 points and defenceman Dayvan Bull has a 4G-15A split. Kyle Schechtel has 15 points on the season.
The goaltending discussion begins with Jack Osmond who has 10 wins, a 2.81 GAA and a league-leading .930 SV% to his credit. Newcomer Trent Boryzsczuk, from Garden City, MI, is the new back-up. The soon to turn 19-year-old is from the USA hockey program.
The Miners are penalized at an 18.5 minute clip, second lowest in the league.
Kam River sports a 3-1-1 record against Red Lake. They’re 2.70 goals against is number one in the SI and they are +1.37 in goal differential per game, also number one. They lead the league in games played with 27 and they’ll hit 30 before Christmas.
Four players: Ethan Lang (8-22-30), Jeremy Dunmore (10-14-24), defenceman Jack Cook (7-15-22) and Carson Gorst 8-12-20 are 20+ point players. Rookie Max Leduc 7-11-18, Ryan Doucette 8-9-17, Euan Morrison 6-11-17 and Anthony Oviedo provide plenty of balanced scoring.
Eric Vanska is 15-2-1. His 2.67 GAA is among the league leaders, as is his .920 SV%.
Jack Orchard is 6-3-0 with half the minutes, with 2.45 GAA and .900 SV%.
The Walleye are on a five-game winning streak under new head coach Geoff Walker, and are 9-1-0 in their last 10.
Wisconsin @ Thunder Bay, Fri/Sat Dec 16/17
Thunder Bay is 4-0-1 against Wisconsin.
The Lumberjacks are 1-4-0 against Thunder Bay with a 6-5 OT win in Spooner, WI on Oct.28.
Sioux Lookout 14-10-0 @ Dryden Fri Dec 16, Dryden @ Sioux Lookout Sat Dec 17.
Two statistically evenly matched teams duke it out in a home-and-home series.
Dryden holds the series edge, three wins to one loss.
The Bombers boast the second best offence in the league at 4.13 GPG. They’re +28 in 24 games played.
Blake Burke paces the team in goals (12) and points (25). Ty Bahm also has 25 points in 20 games played. Owen Riffel (10-12-22), Connor Burke (6-14-20), Lucas Trimarchi (7-11-19), Nolan Palmer (4-13-17) and Graeme Patrick (4-11-15) provide plenty of punch up front. Tegan Neuman has five goals and eight assists in 11 games. The Burke twins, Riffel, Palmer and Neuman are all rookies.
Nathan Dann’s four-goal game against Wisconsin gives him six in six games.
Jake Manners has 11 wins, a 2.65 GAA and .916 SV%. Ethan Penner has two games and a win as the new goalie on the block.
On special teams the Bombers are above average in PP% and PK%–17.8 and 85.2 respectively.
To catch all of this week’s action head over to SIJHLTV!