Thunder Bay, ON
November 4, 2021
The SIJHL schedule resumes tonight with a critical matchup in Dryden featuring the hometown Dryden GM Ice Dogs hosting the Thunder Bay North Stars.
It will be a crucial weekend for both teams as the Ice Dogs make their inaugural visit into Oliver Paipoonge to take on the Kam River Fighting Walleye for a two-game set, and the North Stars complete their weekend with a 2-game set in Red Lake against the Miners who have recently leapfrogged the North Stars to take over first place in the SIJHL standings.
This weekend also sees the return of the Thief River Falls Norskies who will be back in action in Spooner to take on the Wisconsin Lumberjacks for a two-game series.
The Fort Frances Lakers, who last weekend handed the North Stars a 3-0 loss in last weekend’s action, will be idle this weekend.
In tonight’s Dryden / Thunder Bay matchup, league leading scorer Maxime Collette of the Ice Dogs will be a player to watch, having registered 19 points (12g, 7a) in 12 games played this season to hold a narrow 1-point lead in the scoring race over Red Lake Miners hometown product Jordan Baranesky.
Collette’s 12 goals also leads the league in that category.
Heading into weekend play, the Miners hold a 1-point lead over Thunder Bay, with Kam River in third, 3 points behind the North Stars with two games in hand. Dryden continues to flirt with the .500 mark with 11 points and fourth place in the SIJHL standings.
This weekend the Lumberjacks will look forward to being back in the familiar environment of the Spooner Civic Center for the first time since Week 2 of the schedule, having spent the last 4 weekends on the road on account the ongoing border restrictions.
Game times and full schedule is available here. All games available for streaming on HockeyTV.