THUNDER BAY – The Kam River Fighting Walleye are a win away from a third straight trip to the Superior International Junior Hockey League final.
Kaden Goodwin scored the power-play winner 4:15 into overtime on Tuesday night, the Fighting Walleye’s 2-1 Fort William Gardens win giving them a commanding 3-0 lead over the Thunder Bay North Stars in their best-of-seven series and a chance to wrap things up in four straight with a repeat win in Game 4 on Wednesday night.
“It felt awesome,” said Goodwin, leading his team to their seventh straight win to open the SIJHL playoffs.
“In the intermission we were saying let’s kill this (penalty) off and we’re going to finish them here and it happened. We got the power play, and yeah.”
The North Stars started overtime with a 1:49 man advantage, but couldn’t put the puck past Ashton Sadauskas, who stood tall between the pipes for the Fighting Walleye, making 28 stops on the night.
The SIJHL semifinal is far from over, but needing only one win to move on is a good place to be, Goodwin said.
“We just have to go back to work tomorrow and get the job done.”
The winner came with Thunder Bay’s Beau Helmeczi in the box, called for a trip in the Kam River zone.
The Fighting Walleye needed just 29 seconds of power play time to net the winner on Keenan Marks, who faced 51 shots in the contest.
Goodwin said they spotted a flaw in the North Stars defence and were determined to take advantage.
It worked.
“They were leaving it open for the tip, so it finally paid off and we got one through,” he said.
Coach Larry Wintoneak said his team didn’t worry about giving the North Stars their first lead of the series, a second-period tally by Alex Remenda, who dug the puck away from Sadauskas in his crease and fired it home, the power-play goal coming at 14:32.
“Patience and our game plan, I thought it worked out well,” he said. “We killed that big penalty in overtime. I think our goaltending was good all through. And perseverance is something we talked about all year. We’re happy to get this one.
“They always say it takes four. We’ve only got three. We need one more.”
The Fighting Walleye, who lost last year’s final in four straight to the Sioux Lookout Bombers, a year after winning it all, found themselves down 1-0 after 40 minutes.
The Stars, who were sloppy in their own end all game long, turned the puck over just outside their blueline and Evan Lachimea made them pay early in the third.
The Kam River defenceman skated in and let loose a quick wrist shot that evaded Marks, the game tied at a goal apiece at the 4:20 mark of the third.
Both teams had breakaway chances, Marcellus Francis unable to sneak it past Sadauskas for the Stars, Goodwin turned aside by Marks for the Fighting Walleye.
Game 4 goes Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at the Gardens.
FIRST PERIOD6-
Scoring: None. Penalties: Bryson TBN (boarding) 14:48.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Thunder Bay, Remenda 6 (Franz, Mikus) 14:32 pp. Penalties: Lang KRW (slashing), Loke TBN (slashing) 0:50, Lamoureux KRW (tripping) 8:26, Baumann KRW (tripping) 13:47.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 2. Kam River, Lachimea (unasisted) 4:20. Penalties: Adams KRW (tripping) 8:29, Forester TBN (tripping) 12:14, Bench minor KRW (too many men) 19:48.
OVERTIME
Scoring: 3. Kam River, Goodwin 5 (Mintenko, Liang) 4:15 pp. Penalties: Helmeczi TBN (tripping) 3:46.
GAME DATA – SOG – Kam River 20-13-16-2-51, Thunder Bay 6-15-5-3-29; Power plays (goals-chances) – Kam River (0-1), Thunder Bay (1-3); Goaltenders – Kam River: Ashton Sadauskas, Thunder Bay: Keenan Marks; A: 1,617.
