OLIVER PAIPOONGE – With player safety in mind, Friday night’s game between the Kam River Fighting Walleye and the Fort Frances Lakers was called with 10:50 left in the third period.
Bad ice, specifically a couple of holes near centre ice that wouldn’t refreeze, was the cause.
Team officials on both sides got together and decided to restart the game prior to Saturday night’s rematch, the Fighting Walleye leading 4-0 at the time of the stoppage.
It was the right decision, said Kam River coach Jesse Messier.
“There were a couple of chunks and the refs, they weren’t pleased how it was freezing up. They brought it to both of our attention. You don’t want someone getting hurt over that, that’s for sure,” Messier said.
Fighting Walleye centre Ryan Daponte, who scored twice in the first seven minutes of the contest, played in front of 585 fans at the Norwest Arena, said it was a good call to stop play.
“It’s definitely the best for us,” said Daponte, a mid-season acquisition from the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Eliot Lake Vikings.
“I experienced this in the other league in the NOJHL. We’ll … end up playing a 10-minute period tomorrow and then start the new game.”
A Fighting Walleye official after initially confirming the game would be played out prior to Saturday's game, later cited a lack of ice availability as the reason behind the decison to call the game a final as played.
The game itself played out much like most observers might have expected, the hosts coming in with 29 wins, the Lakers just nine.
Kam River dominated the first two periods of play, outshooting the Fighting Walleye 57-16 over 40 minute and 61-22 by the time the game was called, the Lakers benefiting from a slew of Fighting Walleye penalties early in the third.
Daponte, a Markham, Ont. native acquired mid-season from the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Eliot Lake Vikings, has six goals in 20 games since arriving in Oliver Paipoonge, giving him 11 goals and 27 points in 42 combined games between the two teams.
Listed on the Fighting Walleye’s third line, the 21-year-old is happy to contribute in any way to team needs, as Kam River battles for top spot in the Superior International Junior Hockey League.
They entered Friday’s game a single point behind first-place Sioux Lookout and hold a game in hand over the Bombers.
“I’ll do anything for these guys and try to play the right way and do anything I can to help them win,” he said.
Kam River coach Jesse Messier said the team brought Daponte in to fill a few key roles and he’s delivered as expected.
“When we were talking to Ryan about coming in, he told me he was going to play a key role on our PK. You saw him, he soaked probably four or five shots on those 5-on-3s. He’s played a really sound defensive style of game and he’s just kind of been waiting to break out on the goal sheet,” Messier said. “Probably over the last two or three weeks, it’s really starting to come for him. That hard work he’s been putting in is paying off.
Daponte’s first goal came 2:03 into the contest, the six-foot centre grabbing the puck in the neutral zone before stepping over the blue line, a letting loose a quick wrist shot that sailed past former Kam River back-up goaltender Jack Orchard.
Four-and-a-half minutes later Daponte was at it again, chipping a puck past Orchard from just outside the crease on the Fort Frances goaltender’s blocker side.
Fourth-liner Kaden Godwin added Kam River’s third goal of the opening period at the 13:01 mark, cutting in on Orchard and sneaking it past from in tight.
Jeremy Dunmore extended his franchise single-season goal record on the power play, 1:30 into the second, potting his 24th of the season.
Orchard stopped 57 of 61 shots, while Travis VanderZwaag was a perfect 22-for-22 in nets for Kam River.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Kam River, Daponte 5 (Liang) 2:03. 2. Kam River, Daponte 6 (Nailen, Duchesne) 6:35. 3. Kam River, Goodwin 11 (Debray, L. Bell) 13:01. Penalties: Watson FF (holding) 3:49, Dunmore KRW (delay of game) 7:31, Gouin FF (cross checking) 13:40, Couvier FF (interference) 15:39.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 4. Kam River, Dunmore 24 (Liang, B. Bell) 1:30 pp. Penalties: Lindal FF (high sticking) 0:54, Garland FF (roughing) 1:43, Watson FF (interference) 5:44, Dunmore KRW (interference) 8:00, Gustafson FF (misconduct), Lachimea KRW, Couvier FF (unsportsmanlike conduct) 13:13, Krentz FF (cross checking), Liang KRW (unsportsmanlike conduct) 15:48, Fagnilli KRW (holding) 18:51, L. Bell KRW (high sticking) 19:57.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: Penalties: Duchesne KRW (interference) 1:09, J. Sargent KRW (misconduct) 2:40, Pearson FF (cross checking) 6:44, B. Bell KRW (hooking) 9:10,
GAME DATA – SOG – Fort Frances 5-11-0-0, Kam River 28-29-0-0; Power plays (goals-chances) – Fort Frances (0-6), Kam River (1-7); Goaltenders – Fort Frances: Jack Orchard, Kam River: Travis VanderZwaag; A; 535.
