OLIVER PAIPOONGE – The Christmas jerseys come but once a year, and on Friday night, they brought the Kam River Fighting Walleye plenty of good cheer.
Decked out in red and green, a Santa hat dangling off the toothy Walleye logo on the jersey’s front, the Fighting Walleye( 20-4-0) weren’t in a giving mood as they opened a home-and-home series at the Norwest Arena against their Highway 11/17 rival, the Thunder Bay North Stars (15-9-3), holding their opponent to a single goal and captured their third straight Superior International Junior Hockey League victory, a 6-1 home-ice triumph.
Carter Nailen, who had a goal and an assist, upping the Kam River lead to 4-1 with his fourth of the season just past the midway point of the third, the goal essentially putting the game away at that point, said
“Obviously we came out a little slow in the first. We weren’t much on our game, but we still hung in there and after the first intermission we came out strong, we played out game and got the pucks deep to the net. They can’t hang with us when we play our game,” said Nailen, who opened the season with the Lloydminster Bobcats of the Alberta Junior Hockey League before landing in Oliver Paipoonge with the Fighting Walleye.
The goal was the 18-year-old Nailen’s second in as many games, and upped his point-scoring streak to four.
It’s good to start contributing goals, he said, adding it helps when it comes off the perfect dish from a teammate.
“I just got a nice pass from Jett Mintenko and found a nice lane to the net and got my goal. It was huge going up 4-1. It kind of sucks the life out of them,” said Nailen, an 18-goal scorer in his final year of midget hockey.
“It’s good getting the goals, getting the monkey off your back a little bit. When you start scoring, it boosts your confidence a lot.”
Fighting Walleye coach Jesse Messier was pleased with Nailen’s effort, but said just because he doesn’t always show up on the score sheet doesn’t mean he’s not putting in invaluable minutes for his team.
“It was a big goal for him. I think for his standards, he probably felt like he started a little slow too, but even when he’s not putting pucks in, he’s creating a lot of opportunities. He’s a really dynamic player out there,” Messier said.
The Fighting Walleye struck first, their first of two power-play goals on the night, Braeden Duchesne beating Thunder Bay goaltender Keenan Marks at 16:31 of the first. But the lead held for just 20 seconds, Beau Helmeczi’s seventh of the season finding its way past Ashton Sadauskas in the Kam River net.
It was all Kam River from there.
The home side rattled off five unanswered goals. Jeremy Dunmore and Jacob Sargent, with his first in a Kam River uniform, upped the lead to 3-1 after 40 minutes. Nailen, Ryan Doucette and Max Wright, with his third of the season, added insurance markers in the third, Doucette’s goal chasing Marks, who was replaced by Ethan Barron at 12:14 of the third.
Marks made 30 saves on 35 shots, with Barron giving up one goal on seven shots faced. Sadauskas was good on 31 of 32 Thunder Bay attempts.
“We were a little sluggish there in the first, a little sloppy. We weren’t playing our quickest. You’ve got to tip your cap to Ashton in net. They came at us after they scored their first to tie it up. He made a couple of big saves to give us that momentum and turn things back in our favour,” Messier said.
The two teams will switch venues on Saturday night, heading to Fort William Gardens for a 7:30 p.m. start.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Kam River, Duchesne 11 (B. Bell, Mintenko) 16:31 pp. 2. Thunder Bay, Helmeczi 7 (Larrett, Tangedal) 16:51. Penalties: B. Bell KRW (tripping) 11:01, Weeks TB (slashing), O’Brien TB (slashing) 15:21.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 3. Kam River, Dunmore 17 (Borody, Labelle) 8:20. 4. Kam River, J. Sargent 1 (Nailen, Mintenko) 9:54. Penalties: Nailen KRW (slashing) 0:50.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 5. Kam River, Nailen 4 (Mintenko) 11:21. 6. Doucette 10 (Borody) 12:14 pp. 7. Kam River, Wright 3 (Labelle) 16:09. Penalties: Tangedal TB (high sticking) 1:49., Weeks TB (roughing), J. Sargent KRW (roughing, unsportsmanlike conduct) 8:09, Nailen KRW (misconduct) 11:21. Lemieux TB (boarding) 11:49, Mikus TB (interference) 13:01, Labelle KRW (misconduct) 16:09, Sadauskus KRW (delay of game, served by J. Sargent) 18:09.
GAME DATA – SOG – Thunder Bay 10-13-9-32, Kam River 13-17-12-42; Power plays (goals- chances) – Thunder Bay (0-4), Kam River (2-5); Goaltenders – Thunder Bay: Keenan Marks (35 shots, 30 saves), Ethan Barron (12:14 of the third), Kam River Ashton Saudaskas; A: 647.
