Fighting Walleye take lead in Teleco Cup

HEARST -- The Kam River Fighting Walleye (SIJHL) rode the strength of a Kayden Ostrum hat trick to propel them to a 6-2 win over the Hearst Lumberjacks Friday in the third game of the Teleco Cup series at Claude Larose Recreation Centre.

This gives the Fighting Walleye a 2-1 edge in the four match-up set.

Meeting for the third time in less than a week, it was Kam River that began the scoring off a draw in the Hearst end and saw Gavin Barnhart put an attempt on target from the right point that was stopped by netminder Ryder Gregga, but Slatts Gregory was right there to swat in the rebound at 10:55.

Countering with an equalizer a couple of minutes later, the Lumberjacks pressured a turnover which allowed Owen Hey to fire a feed across to veteran Tyler Patterson, who quickly slammed in the tying tally on Fighting Walleye starter Owen Bonthius.

Retaking the lead late in the frame, Jett Mintenko spun in the corner and put a pass to a wide-open Ostrum, who deked to his left and deposited the go-ahead marker.

Not done there, the SIJHL side added another by striking on the power play where off some crisp puck movement Daxton Lang sizzled a cross-ice feed across to Ostrum, who promptly wired a shot high on Gregga.

Another man advantage effort made it 4-1 Kam River when Nikolas Fagnalli wheeled out from the side wall and put a low shot that was credited to deflecting off Osturm and found its way in.

Adding a fifth on the night, Tie Schumacher darted in alone along the left wing and neatly tucked one five-hole to spell the end of Gregga’s evening, in favour of back-up Alex Boivin, midway through the proceedings.

Up a skater themselves, Hearst made it 5-2 in the final moments of the second thanks to Mathieu Comeau cranking one from the left circle.

In the third, Schumacher added to the road side’s cushion as when buried one from a sharp angle that eluded Boivin, to cap off the scoring.

The club’s will cap-off off their four-game set Saturday afternoon, in a 1 p.m. start back in Hearst.

Bonthuis made 18 saves to collect the victory for the Walleye, who put 27 shots on the Lumberjacks net.