OLIVER PAIPOONGE – The Vern Ray/Kevin McCallum coaching era will end with an unblemished record.
The Kam River Fighting Walleye, eagerly awaiting the arrival of newly hired coach Geoff Walker, expected to make his debut on Friday night against the Wisconsin Wilderness, ran into a hot Fort Frances Laker goaltender on Wednesday night, but still managed to pull out a 3-1 win in a battle of worst-versus-first in the SIJHL standings at the Norwest Arena.
The Fighting Walleye, who recently parted ways with coach Matt Valley, are 3-0-0 under their interim coaching duo.
Jeremy Dunmore had a goal and an assist to lead the Walleye, who fired 61 shots on Lakers goaltender Brenden Stroble, more than a few of which could have found the back of the net against a lesser player between the pipes.
“Their goaltender played really great today,” said Dunmore, whose 16 points have him tied for 11th in the seven-team league.
“I think he made 58 saves on 68 shots, so he did a good job for them. I guess we didn’t capitalize on a lot of the chances we had, but their goalie was a big part of that. I still think we played a pretty decent game all around. We limited them to not a lot of shots.”
The Lakers (2-12-0) only managed 26 shots on Kam River goaltender Jack Orchard, who stopped all but one of them, the lone puck that got by him coming off the stick off Fort Frances forward Connor O’Brien, a high shot from just inside the blue-line that just snuck under the crossbar, cutting Kam River’s 2-0 lead in half at 6:23 of the middle stanza.
“With no one really being here as the head coach right now, all the guys are just trying to buy in and get the wins for Vern behind the bench,” Dunmore said. “I think we’re really buying into what he’s saying and excited for Geoff.”
Ray, a veteran of the SIJHL coaching wars who also spent seven years in the minor pro trenches as a player, said he didn’t think the score was entirely indicative of his team’s play.
“We had 61 cracks on net. Their kid played a (heck) of a game in net. I just told their coach to give him an extra six-pack on the bus. I thought our kids played great. They came out of the gates quick and hard and they kept it up for a full 60.”
Kam River blue-liner Brydon Bell, a recent acquisition from the La Ronge Ice Wolves of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, opened the scoring 7:24 into the first, his first goal in 12 games split between the two circuits.
Dunmore doubled the lead 59 seconds into the second.
“It was a 2-on-1 and I kind of lost the puck, but I got out of the corner, walked to the net and went bar down. It was a nice shot and a good pass by Ethan Lang,” Dunmore said.
Ryan Doucette added an insurance marker with 1:49 to go in the second, cutting across the middle and firing the puck past Stroble, restoring Kam River's two-goal lead.
The Fighting Walleye (14-4-1) are back again at the Norwest Arena again on Friday and Saturday night, hosting the Wisconsin Lumberjacks.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Kam River, Bell 1 (Duchesne, Leduc) 7:24. Penalties: Snooks FF (hooking) 9:09, Sedwick KFW (hooking) 16:06, Reyelts KFW (unsportsmanlike conduct, served by Gallaher, misconduct) 18:57.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 2. Kam River, Dunmore (Lang) 0:59. 3. Fort Frances, O’Brien (Zurkan, Watt) 6:23. 4. Kam River, Doucette (Reyelts, Dunmore) 18:11. Penalties: Raduy FF, Egner KFW (roughing) 4:22, Gallaher KFW (tripping) 13:47.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: None Penalties: None.
GAME DATA – SOG – Fort Frances 8-8-10-26, Kam River 22-17-22-61; Power plays (goals-chances) – Fort Frances (0-3), Kam River (0-1); Goaltenders – Fort Frances: Brenden Stroble, Kam River: Jack Orchard; A: 307.