THUNDER BAY – It's gonna be awhile before the Kam River Fighting Walleye lace up the skates again.
The top-ranked team in the Superior International Junior Hockey League has a first-round bye and wrapped up their regular season on Saturday night at Fort William Gardens with a 4-1 triumph, led by Jeremy Dunmore's one-goal, two-assist performance.
Their opponent, the Thunder Bay North Stars (21-16-4), have a little faster turnaround before their next game. Finishing in fourth place, they'll host the Wisconsin Lumberjacks in a best-of-five opening round series that kicks off Tuesday night.
The Fighting Walleye (35-7-2) wanted to hit the break on a winning note.
While the Stars also wanted the two points, they also wanted to fine-tune their game and maybe send a message to the rest of the league that they won't be playoff pushovers should they advance past the opening round.
Both teams kind of got what they wanted, the Stars in particular showing they can hang with the top team in the SIJHL, splitting the weekend series after a 5-2 win on Friday night.
“It's playoff hockey. Anything can happen,” said Thunder Bay captain Hunter Foreshew. “We all know that. Sometimes you win some, sometimes you lose some. All we know is if we ever get the chance to play them again we're going to come for them.
“They know we can beat them and how hard it is to win in our home barn with 1,400 or 1,500 people tonight. We'll be ready.”
Dunmore, who finished the campaign with 18 goals and 42 points, said it was great to wrap up the regular season in winning fashion,.
“It's awesome. I thought we were rolling tonight and it's a good way to go into the playoffs. I'm really proud of the guys.”
That's what Kam River coach Matt Valley was looking for – a complete team effort coming off Friday night's disappointing three-goal loss.
“Obviously there was a ton of intensity, a ton of passion on the ice between these two teams all year and they pushed us. We're 2-2 in our history at the Gardens. It's a tough place to play, a bigger ice surface. They seem to bring their best game against us a lot and we were up to the task tonight,” Valley said.
For a second straight night, it was the Stars who struck first, Pier-Luc Bellard slipping the puck past Kam River goaltender Austin Madge, who had his five-game suspension for fighting reduced by a game, with 6:09 to go in the first.
Like Friday night, the Fighting Walleye didn't take long to even things up, Ethan Lang beating Jordan Smith at 17:08 of the first.
Unlike the night prior, it was the Fighting Walleye who took control of the match in the second and third.
Dunmore scored the lone goal of the middle stanza just 1:42 after the break. Collin Wiseman doubled the lead 73 seconds into the third and Logan Gallaher put it away midway through the period, tipping home a blistering point shot by Kam River captain Zach Fortin with the Fighting Walleye on the power play.
North Stars coach Rob DeGagne said he just wants his team to get healthy in the next 72 hours. Given those circumstances, he's happy with the split.
“We only have three lines. We have two lines and two spares. We're thrilled. The kids played hard. We played with them both nights – 41 shots, 43 shots tonight. Last night we had a few breaks and tonight they had a few breaks. It was great and it should be a fun playoffs, for sure.”
Thunder Bay's Zack Davis and Kam River's Dayton Clarke were tossed for fighting in a rough-and-tumble third. Fighting Walleye forward Christian Veneruzzo was also tossed for picking up his second misconduct of the night.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Thunder Bay, Bellard (unassisted) 13:51. 2. Kam River, Lang 19 (Dunmore) 17:08. Penalties: Wiseman KFW (holding) 9:14.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 3. Kam River, Dunmore (unassisted) 1:42. Penalties: Halushak TB (interference) 2:34, Goodman KFW (closing hand on puck) 6:03, Veneruzzo KFW, Bellard TB (misconducts) 20:00.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 4. Kam River, Wiseman (Dunmore, Lang) 1:13. 5. Kam River, Gallaher (Fortin) 10:34 pp. Penalties: Oviedo KFW (interference) 1:49, Foreshew TB (hooking) 10:29, Morriseau KFW (high sticking), 11:58, Veneruzzo KFW (high sticking) 12:06, Foreshew TB (high sticking) 12:42, Clarke KFW (interference) 15:02, Foreshew TB (high sticking) 18:13, Davis TB, Clarke KFW (fighting majors, game misconducts) 19:34, Veneruzzo KFW (charging, misconduct,game misconduct), Meloche TB (cross checking, roughing misconduct) 19:44.
GAME DATA – SOG – Kam River 15-15-12-42, Thunder Bay 12-13-15-40; Power plays (goals-chances) – Kam River (1-4), Thunder Bay (0-5); Goaltenders – Kam River: Austin Madge, Thunder Bay: Jordan Smith; A: 1,623.
