THUNDER BAY – Eric Vanska says he was tired of the Red Lake Miners pushing him around.
So he pushed back the only way he knows how – with his play between the pipes.
The Kam River Fighting Walleye, victimized for nine goals in a game-and-a-half last Friday and Saturday night against the Miners, bounced back on Thursday night at the Norwest Arena with a 43-save shutout win over Red Lake on home ice, earning the Walleye a 3-0 win.
Vanska said the shutout was the icing on the cake, but it was putting another notch in the win column for the team that mattered most.
“I wasn’t really thinking too much about myself. I was kind of thinking about the team. Obviously we have a lot of past with Red Lake, going back to last year, and I’m just kind of sick of us letting them push us around,” said Vanska, a three-year veteran with the Fighting Walleye who suited up for a single game with Red Lake in 2018-19.
“Coming into this game I think everyone was kind of dialed (in) and we kind of wanted to send a message back to them. That starts with me preparing a little bit better and being dialed in for a good battle.”
It was the third career Superior International Junior Hockey League shutout of his career, his first of 2022-23.
It’s a good feeling, he admitted.
“I always say the first shutout is kind of like a player’s first goal. They just want to get it out of the way, get the monkey off their back. So it feels really good to get it out of the way. There’s kind of a little less pressure now, I feel like holy shoot, I finally got it out of the way.”
Vanska, playing in front of a revamped defence this season, said he was getting good looks all night long.
“The biggest message I’ve had with my D-men is just clear bodies as much as we can and let me see it. If I can see it and you give me time to make it to that second shot, we’re going to be pretty solid in net, and that goes for me and Jack (Orchard),” Vanska said.
Red Lake’s best chance to score came with 7:51 to go in the second, forward Jacob Lamoureux firing a shot that Vanska just managed to get a glove on, deflecting it off the top corner of the net and out of harm’s way.
Both Vanska and Red Lake’s Jack Osmond were perfect in a scoreless first.
Kam River’s Euan Morrison, with his third of the year, broke the Miner goalie’s shutout bid at the 7:28 mark of the second.
Less than six minutes later Carson Gorst doubled the Fighting Walleye lead, Kam River taking a 2-0 lead into the third.
Braeden Duchesne added an insurance tally six minutes into the third, ripping a quick shot that Orchard couldn’t catch up to for the final goal of the night.
“For (my team) to come back here Thursday and play a team four times in six, seven nights, that’s a big win. I think it’s one of the better efforts we’ve given totally in a game and kudos to our goalie, Eric. He’s been our rock all year and he didn’t feel like he played well in Red Lake,” said Fighting Walleye coach Matt Valley.
“So for him to rebound with a shutout, he made some pretty big saves tonight.”
