OLIVER PAIPOONGE – After letting a 3-0 lead slip away against the Sioux Lookout Bombers, Carter Poddubny saved the night with the shootout winner.
The first-year forward, who has nine goals in 13 games and stands second in rookie goal scoring behind Thunder Bay’s Easton Mikus, his former teammate with the AAA Midget Kings U16 squad, was the only player to light the lamp in the shootout.
Kam River goaltender Travis VanderZwaag was perfect in the penalty-shot contest, that took place after overtime solved nothing, stopping Sioux Lookout’s Cedrik Robidioux, Owen Riffel and Connor Burke.
The Fighting Walleye scored the only goal of the first, Jeremy Dunmore notching his eighth of the season.
Matteo Salvatore and Nickola Fagnilli scored back-to-back goals in the second to open up a three-goal lead, but Davan Bull and Burker scored three minutes apart before the middle stanza concluded and the Walleye’s lead shrunk to 3-2 after 40 minutes.
Tait Howell scored the equalizer on the power play with 4:31 to go in regulation.
The Fighting Walleye fired 55 shots on Bombers goalie Matthew Spencer-Dahl, while Sioux Lookout managed 31 shots on VanderZwaag.
The Bombers (10-4-2), who have dropped two in a row, picked up a point to jump a point in front of Thunder Bay and Dryden and into sole possession of second place in the Superior International Junior Hockey League.
Kam River improved to 12-2-0, their 24 points good for top spot in the standings.
The Bombers and Fighting Walleye meet again on Saturday night, with puck drop scheduled for 7:45 p.m. at the Norwest Arena.
Fort Frances 3, Dryden 1: The Lakers picked up their third win of the season, beating the Ice Dogs at home, despite being outshot 55-34. Ian Snooks, Cobe Delaney and Jack Wood scored three unanswered for Fort Frances to power the victory. Luc Fortier’s first of the season opened the scoring for Dryden (10-6-1) at 5:09 of the first. Jack Orchard made 53 saves to pick up the win between the pipes for the Lakers (3-11-1).
