By Gary Moskalyk
Sioux Lookout 22-5-2 46 pts .793 1st GF 125 GA 66 +59 PIMs 470 PP% 25.3 PK% 87.7 at Kam River 21-5-1 43 pts .796 2nd GF 141 GA 75 +66 PIMs 571 PP% 30.9 PK% 83.1 Fri/Sat
Head to head: SLB 0-1-1, KRW 2-0-0.
The top two teams in the SIJHL do battle at Norwest with bragging rights and first place on the line. Kam River is three points back with two games in hand. Sioux Lookout is on a 12-game winning streak.
The Bombers are 16th in the just released CJHL rankings. Kam River is 20th.
Sioux Lookout’s Owen Riffel leads the SIJHL in goals with 24 in 26 games, and is tied for the points lead with 44. Blake Burke and Connor Burke have 36 and 35 points respectively. As a line they’ve rung up 115 points. Defenceman Dayvan Bull leads all rearguards with nine goals and 28 points. Defenceman Nolan Palmer has 23 points and Jonah Smith’s 11 goals and 10 helpers slots him in at 32nd in the SIJHL.
Tait Howell, Cedrik Robidoux, Cobe Delaney and Owen Cotter have 17, 16, 15 and 15 points respectively.
Jack Osmond has a 12-4-1 record, 2.36 GAA and .938 SV% in 1,018 minutes. Matthew Spencer-Dahl, 13 minutes clear of the 540 minutes needed to be “qualified” to lead the league in goaltending stats, leads in two categories: 1.74 GAA with a .955 SV%. Matthew Ofukany, the third man in, has three wins in three starts.
The Bombers are clicking at 25.3% on the PP and lead the league with a 87.7% PK rate. Sioux Lookout averages 16.2 penalty minutes per game, lowest in the league.
The Bombers acquired the playing rights of defenceman Josh Greene, formerly of Fort Frances.
Kam River dipped below .800 in winning percentage with a .796, still the best in the league.
The Fighting Walleye have five players at or above 30 points. Jeremy Dunmore has 18 goals and 15 assists to retain dressing room bragging rights. Dunmore’s five game-winning goals lead the SIJHL. Riley Borody has 32 points (11G 21A), Jett Mintenko 31 (15G 16A), rookie Carter Poddubny 30 (15G 15A with 11 PP goals), and Ryan Doucette also has 30 (12G 18A).
Defenceman Brydon Bell is averaging a point-a-game with 26 points in 26 games. Rookie Nickolas Fagnilli has 25 points, d-man Liam Bell 22 points in 23 games and Braeden Duchesne has 19 counters. Four rookies: Kaden Goodwin, 18, Carter Nailen, 15, Matteo Salvatore, 15, and rearguard Edwin Liang, 15, round out a deep offensive corps.
Ashton Sadauskas, the closest goalie to a sure thing, has 16 wins in a row in his 1,036 minutes. Travis VanderZwaag is 5-4-1.
The Walleye have the league’s best PP at 30.9 %.Their penalty kill is 83.1%. Kam River averages 21.1 penalty minutes per game.
Thunder Bay 18-9-3 39 pts .650 4th GF 118 GA 98 +20 PIMs 496 PP% 19.3 PK% 83.3 at Wisconsin 10-13-4 24 pts .444 6th GF 92 GA 123 -31 PIMs 572 PP% 15.0 PK% 78.9 Friday
Head to head: TBN 1-0-1, WIS 1-1-0.
Thunder Bay’s top line of EJ Paddington, Edison Weeks and Easton Mikus sit two, three and four in SIJHL production. All three are north of 40 points. Paddington (17G 27A) and Weeks (15G 29A) have 44 points, tied with Sioux Lookout’s Owen Riffel for top spot. Rookie Easton Mikus has 20 goals and 22 assists–one of two players to have at least 20 in both goals and assists. Week’s 29 helpers lead the SIJHL.
Tyler Jordan’s recent hat trick gives him 17 goals in 25 games. Added to his 11 assists his 28 points has him 17th in league scoring. Veteran forward Dimitri Trahiotis has 20 points, rookie Cohen Tangedal and defenceman Drew Caddo have 17 points each.
Defenceman Connor O’Brien is now a LJHL Northern Hawk. Taking over his number 17 is Alex Remenda. Remenda had goals in both of his starts against the Lakers.
Goaltenders Keenan Marks and Ethan Barron stand side-by-side in goals against average. Marks is 13-6-1/3.08/.911 and leads the league with 1,132 minutes. Barron is 5-3-2/3.13/.897 in 671 minutes.
Thunder Bay’s powerplay checks in at 19.3% and the penalty kill is 83.3%. The Stars have the second lowest penalty minutes per game rating at 16.5 minutes per game.
Wisconsin is 5-4-1 in their last 10. Eleven points ahead of Fort Frances and 14 back of Dryden the Lumberjacks appears to have 6th place locked down.
Dillon Phillips has 16 points in his last seven games and Nolan Fowler has 18 points in his last 12. Phillips has 13 goals and 15 assists overall, Fowler has 12 goals and nine helpers for 21 points in 20 games. Zach Johnson (12-12-24), Ryan Kayser (4-15-19) and Connor Corcoran (4-13-17) are three more offensive drivers.
Rylan Freshwater leads Wisconsin in net minutes with 661 and is 6-4-0. William Forrester is 3-6-1 with 4.19 GAA and .894 SV% in 573 minutes. Newcomer Riley Burnett is 1-1-0 in his two starts.
The Lumberjacks have a 15.0% powerplay and 78.9% penalty kill.
They average21.2 penalty minutes per game.
Red Lake 19-8-2 38 pts .690 3rd GF 136 GA 75 +61 PIMs 522 PP% 20.4 PK% 86.9 at Fort Frances 5-19-3 13 pts .241 7th GF 68 GA 121 -53 PIMs 616 PP% 12.8 PK% 80.0 Friday
Head to head: RLM 4-0-0, FFL 0-4-0.
Red Lake lost to Dryden 1-0 on the weekend breaking their 10-game winning streak. At +61 they have the second best goal differential in the league.
The shutout loss cooled off forward Aiden Corbett, who sits with a tidy 20 goals and 20 helpers in 29 games.
Nathan Dann has 16 goals in 21 games and 26 points overall. Luke DeCorby also has 26 points. Noah Tenney has 25 points. Defenceman Blake Hiltermann, (8 goals, 16 assists and 89 penalty minutes) has 24. Carter Deschamps, 19, and Brody Lindal and Landon Van Engelen with 15 each, round out their top scorers.
Lindal was just traded to Fort Frances for Ryker Watt.
Ethan Neitsch is 7-5-2 with a 2.16 GAA and .938 SV% but hasn’t played since Dec. 12th (injury). Rookie Noah Davis got both starts in Dryden and is 8-2-0 with a 2.86 GAA and .898 SV%. Patrick Forsythe served as back-up in both games. The Miners also acquired goalie Jackson Pundyk from the Carleton Place Canadiens of the CCHL. Pundyk was 5-6-0 with a 3.98 GAA and .875 SV% with the Canadiens. The ’04 Pundyk, a native of Kanata, ON, played the last three seasons with the Canadiens.
The Miners traded ’05 F Ty Genik for ’04 F Kyle Grysiuk of the Winnipeg Freeze of MJHL in a hot-off-the-wire Tuesday morning transaction.
Red Lake’s powerplay clocks in at 20.4. League average is 19.6. The Miners’ penalty kill ranks second at 86.9%.
The Miners average 18.0 minutes per game in the box. League average is 20.3.
Fort Frances is winless in their last nine games.
Leading the team offensively is Clark Scaddan with 10 goals, eight assists for 18 points. Brady Krentz has 17 points in 22 games. Jack Wood also has 17. Ryker Watt (traded), 14, rookie Pierce Gouin, 12, defenceman Josh Green (sent to Sioux Lookout), 11, and rookie d-man Evan Kabel, 10, round out Fort Frances’ top scorers.
Jack Orchard, 3-11-1/4.18/.902/932 minutes, shoulders most of the load in the Lakers’ net. Lukas Toth and Gunner Paradis serve in back-up roles.
Fort Frances’ powerplay is 12.8% and the penalty kill is 80.0%.
The Lakers average 22.8 minutes in the box.
Thunder Bay at Fort Frances Saturday
Head to head: TBN 4-0-0, FFL 0-4-0. See notes above.
Dryden 18-13-2 38 pts .576 5th GF 117 GA 107 +10 PIMs 675 PP% 22.4 PK% 77.0 at Kenora 1-24-1 3 pts .058 8th GF 50 GA 182 -132 PIMs 713 PP% 7.8 PK% 69.2 Fri/Sat
Head to head: DRY 2-0-0, KEN 0-2-0.
Dryden claimed a dramatic playoff-style 1-0 home win over Red Lake to break out of a seven-game winless streak.
Max Roby with 18 goals and 15 assists leads the Ice Dogs in points with 33. McLaren Paulsen’s 19 goals leads the team. Combined with 12 assists he’s 11th in league scoring with 31 points. Eli Antoine has played in all 33 games and has 29 points.
Sean Smith, who scored the game winner against Red Lake on Saturday, has nine goals on the year and 14 assists. Bryce Benfield has 21 points in 19 games, one of 21 SIJHL players averaging a point a game. Carson Devine has 21 points. Defencemen Sebastiano Biagi, 18 points, Tag Bryson, 18 points, and Rylan Maier, 16 points, round out the Dryden players in the top 60.
Ewan Soutar has battled injury but is healthy now and is the main man in net. Soutar is set to join three other goaltenders with 1,000 minutes played. In 989 minutes Soutar is 9-6-1 with a goals against of 2.36 and a save percentage of .926. Max Calder was added to the goaltending ranks on Monday.
Dryden’s powerplay is 22.4% and their penalty kill is 77.0%.
The Ice Dogs are averaging 20.5 penalty minutes per game, considerably down from prior years.
Kenora’s struggles continue. They did manage 60 shots against first place Sioux Lookout last Friday.
Aaron Bertschinger continues his solid year, leading the Islanders in goals with 12 and points with 21. Brayden Mackay is next in line with six goals and 11 helpers. Jean Paul Scaringi has 14 points, Jeremiah Jacques 12, and defencemen Braden Swampy and Reid Zurkan have 11. Mackay and Zurkan are the only two players who have played all 26 games.
With 50 team goals in 26 games, scoring is at a premium on the Islanders squad. Kenora does have at least one game in hand on every team in the league–seven on Dryden, the SIJHL games played leaders.
The Islanders have allowed exactly seven goals per game. Matt Stephens, Kaden King and Connor Dunham-Fox have tended goal. Stephens has Kenora’s win and shoot out loss. Stephens has an .897 save percentage and King is .894.
Kenora’s powerplay is 7.8% and penalty kill is 69.2%.
The Islanders play it tough. Their 27.4 penalty minutes per game is the highest in the SIJHL, 4.6 minutes above number two Fort Frances at 22.8. League average is 20.3 minutes per game.