OLIVER PAIPOONGE – The Kam River Fighting Walleye are on a roll.
The Walleye fired 60 shots at the Ironwood Lumberjacks on Saturday night, six of them finding the back of the net, and went on to double up their opponent 6-3 to pick up their fourth straight Superior International Junior Hockey League win – their second in two games with new coach Larry Wintoneak at the helm.
Daxton Lang had the big night for Kam River, scoring three times and adding an assist. Jett Mintenko picked up four helpers, with single goals going to Sam Sargent, Carter Poddubny and Kaden Goodwin.
Matto Salvatore had a pair for the Lumberjacks. Nolan Fowler had Ironwood’s other tally.
Travis VanderZwaag stopped 23 of 26 shots to earn the win between the pipes. Kole Kronstedt was solid, making 54 saves for Ironwood, but was still saddled with the loss in goal.
With the win, the Fighting Walleye are now 9-5-0 and have climbed to within five points of first-place Thunder Bay, who are idle this weekend. The Lumberjacks fell to 2-13-1, seventh in the eight-team circuit.
Fort Frances 3, Sioux Lookout 3: Carter Deschamps and Pierce Gouin scored six minutes apart in the third to erase a 3-1 Bombers lead and send the game to overtime, where nothing was settled. Landon Lowes, with the opening goal of the contest, had the other Fort Frances goal. Tait Howell, Alex Lucas and Kaden Veller scored for Sioux Lookout (8-4-2). The Lakers improved to 5-4-4.
Dryden 8, Kenora 3: The Ice Dogs (11-2-1) reclaimed a share of top spot in the SIJHL standings with the weekend sweep of the Islanders. Payton Hu had a pair for Dryden and added an assist and Braxton Castagno made 12 saves in goal. Josh Boyko had a goal and an assist for the Islanders (1-10-2).
