OLIVER PAIPOONGE – It was a historic night for hockey.
Alexander Ovechkin was the buzz of the Norwest Arena on Friday night, fans throughout the rink keeping one eye on their phones and the other on Game 1 of the Superior International Junior Hockey League semfinal unfolding in front of them.
While Ovechkin was equalling Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal record, with his 893rd and 894th career goals, Kam River’s Jett Mintenko was having a pretty decent night of his own.
The Fighting Walleye forward, the second-leading point-getter in the eight-team circuit during the regular season, scored a pair of late first period goals to break open a 1-1 contest, leading his team to what would prove to be a 5-3 win over his team’s hottest rival, the Thunder Bay North Stars.
His first tally came on a dandy of a backhand pass off the stick of teammate Daxton Lang, who deftly slid the puck on a diagonal through the slot to a waiting Mintenko, one of three 30-goal scorers in the regular season.
Mintenko stared down a wide-open net, Thunder Bay goaltender Keenan Marks caught out of position, and buried the puck, giving the Fighting Walleye the lead for good.
Then, with 6.9 seconds to go in the first, he struck again, the goal the result of a designed play off a face-off deep in Thunder Bay territory.
The second goal was a back-breaker for the visiting Stars, who have played the Fighting Walleye twice previously in the playoffs, losing both series.
“I thought we had momentum after the first one, so just to get it in was a big sigh of relief. I think we were humming the whole time and we wanted to go into the second up two,” Mintenko said.
The three goal first paved the way for the win, said Kam River coach Larry Wintoneak.
“We got pucks to the net at the right time and we were driving to the net and I thought the Mintenko line was strong. Obviously with (Jett’s) performance and that line’s performance, they did a good job offensively for us,” Wintoneak said.
“And we got some production from the back end.”
In fact, it was defenceman Edwin Liang who opened the scoring, ringing the puck off the iron and past Marks at 5:05 of the first.
North Stars captain Tyler Jordan evened things up at 13:46, grabbing the puck in a scramble in front of Kam River goaltender Ashton Sadauskas.
Thunder Bay boasted the top penalty kill during the regular season, but it was a power-play goal by Mintenko that saw them fall behind for good.
Up 3-1 after 20 minutes, defenceman Cayden Adams scored an unassisted tally 5:44 into the second to give the home team a three-goal lead.
Alex Remenda got one back for Thunder Bay before the second ended, tipping a shot from the point that sailed over the shoulder of Sadauskas and under the crossbar, the power-play goal coming at the 16:28 mark.
The Stars had a brief 5-on-3 power play early in the third, but couldn’t score. Peter Forester managed to get one back in a 4-on-4 situation midway through the final frame, but that was all the offence they could muster.
“I didn’t think we played very good tonight. We didn’t have any jump tonight. We’ve got to play better. They’re a good team. We’re not going to come in here and beat them by not working. We just got out worked and outplayed. It’s one of those games. We just have to forget about it and come back tomorrow,” said Thunder Bay coach Robert DeGagne.
Game 2 goes Saturday night at 7 p.m. at the Norwest Arena. The series shifts to Fort William Gardens on Tuesday.
Dryden 6, Red Lake 3: Max Roby scored twice and added a pair of helpers and Carson Devine had a goal and three assists to lead the Ice Dogs to a Game 1 win over the Miners.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: Kam River, Liang 1 (unassisted) 5:05. 2. Thunder Bay, Jordan 6 (Bryson) 13:46. 3. Kam River, Mintenko 2 (Lang, Lamoureux) 16:28. 4. Kam River, Mintenko 3 (Goodwin) 19:53. Penalties: Marshall TBN, Debray KRW (roughing) 3:22, Powar KRW (high sticking) 9:51, Tangedal TBN (high sticking) 16:10, Nailen KRW (roughing, unsportsmanlike conduct), Marshall TBN (roughing), Bryson TBN (unsportsmanlike conduct) 20:00.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 5. Kam River, Adams 1 (unassisted) 5:44. 6. Thunder Bay, Remenda (Buffone, Franz) 16:28 pp. Penalties: Simeoni TBN (hooking) 10:08, Labelle KRW (tripping) 15:41, Lachimea KRW (holding the stick) 19:09.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 7. Kam River, Sargent 1 (Fagnilli, Adams) 2:35. 8. Thunder Bay, Forrester (Lysak) 11:02. Penalties: Lamoureux KRW (cross checking), Kukko KRW (slashing) 6:04, Jordan TBN (tripping) 6:58, Feist TBN, Labelle KRW (unsportsmanlike conduct) 9:22, Liang KRW (cross checking) 14:19,
GAME DATA – SOG – Thunder Bay 12-12-7-31, Kam River 17-17-11-45; Power plays (goals-chances) – Thunder Bay (1-6), Kam River (1-3); Goaltenders – Thunder Bay: Keenan Marks, Kam River: Ashton Sadauskas; A: 877.
