With teams jockeying for playoff positioning and looking to lock down their spot, the first week of February action was heated.
Tuesday night had two games on the schedule. In one, Arborg headed to Steeltown to play the Selkirk Fishermen. The Ice Dawgs had the home side reeling early, as they scored twice in the first 5 minutes, including one on the power play. Selkirk kept pressing however, and scored two goals late in the period, just 13 seconds apart to tie the game. The second period remained tied until the Ice Dawgs grabbed the lead again late, but with just 24 ticks to go, the Fish tied it back up, solving nothing after 40 minutes. The 3
rd period saw the Fish grab their first lead of the game, just 1:37 into the period. They added a power play goal later, and held on for the 5-3 win.
The Fishermen’s Connor Spratt led the team with 4 assists. Karl Fey scored two goals, while Jeremy Pachkowsky added 2 assists. Kale Ilchena had a goal and an assist. Riley Bannerman stopped 21 of the 24 shots he faced to earn the win.
Travis Kilbrei led the Ice Dawgs with a goal and an assist. Colton Davies & Derric Gulay scored single goals. Jon Narverud faced 44 shots in the game, stopping 39 of them.
Just south of Selkirk, the St. Malo Warriors were in Winnipeg to play the Satelites in a divisional matchup. St. Malo opened the scoring, with 2 goals in the first period, to take a 2-0 lead. The Satelites cut the lead to 2-1 seven minutes in the 2
nd period. St. Malo exploded for 3 goals late in the period, including two goals 25 seconds apart to hold a 5-1 lead after the second period. Trailing by four, the Satelites scored nearly 4 minutes into the period to make it 5-2. They kept plugging away, and ended up scoring two more times to cut the lead to 5-4, and then with 13 seconds to go, found the back of the net to tie the game at 5-5 and force overtime. In overtime, it was St. Malo who scored with just 50 seconds to go in the extra frame to win and get the extra point.
St. Malo saw Bryden Johnson, Jessi Freund & Jared Magne all score once and add an assist. Riley Hunter chipped in with 2 assists. Noah Fournier turned aside 30 of the 35 shots he faced to earn the win.
Derek Ramage led the Satelites with 2 goals and an assist. Bryan MacKenzie scored once and added 2 assists & Ricky Crowe had 3 assists. Sean Murray also scored a single goal and added an assist. Marc Hildebrand made 40 saves on 46 shots to earn a single point for North Winnipeg.
Wednesday evening saw the Norway House North Stars head west to play the OCN Storm, as they looked to keep pace with Peguis atop the North standings. Eight minutes into the first, OCN took a 1-0 lead & then added 3 more goals in a 41 second span. They tacked on one more just as time was getting close to expiring, to hold a 5-0 lead. The second period saw the Storm pour in more offence, scoring 8 times, including a power play goal on the only opportunity of the game. The 3
rd period saw OCN tally 4 more times in what was a foregone conclusion, cruising to a 17-0 win.
OCN was led by Camacho Lathlin, who scored 5 times and added 1 assist. Drew Morin scored twice and tallied 3 helpers, while Brody Personius added a goal and 4 assists. Tyrel Buechert scored a hat trick and dished out 1 assist. Justice Genaille, Nathan Gardner & Bryson Constant all recorded 3 points. Mitchell Tilley, Dawson Anderson, Wendell Easter & Darian Young all added 2 points. Anthony Fontaine stopped all 12 of the shots he faced for the shutout win.
No North Star player scored, however Joey Folster stood tall in goal, stopping 43 of the 60 shots he saw.
On one of the busiest
Thursday nights of the season, there were two games on the go. Rivals Peguis played host to Fisher River in a game that featured lots of offence, and minimal defense. With signs of things to come, the Juniors scored just 32 seconds into the game to kick things off. Fisher River answered back a few minutes later, only to see the Juniors pour in 4 goals within a 1:03 span. The Hawks cut the lead to 5-2, but Peguis added one more before the period was over to lead 6-2. Quickly in the second, the Juniors scored again, adding 3 more to their lead to go up 9-2. The Hawks answered with 2 of their own, including one on the power play, and then the teams traded goals over the final 10 minutes of the 2
nd – with each team scoring 3 times, to leave the score at 12-7 Peguis after 40 minutes. The 3
rd period was all Juniors, as they powered their way to 7 more goals, closing out the game in convincing fashion by a 19-7 margin.
Shaquille Houle led all scorers with 4 goals and 4 assists, while Theoren Spence paced the Juniors with a goal & 7 assists. Tyler Woodhouse added 2 goals and 2 assists. Jesse Flett, Romano Paul, Denis Stevenson, Waylon Neault & Harold Linklater all recorded 3 points in the game. Montana Tanner, Keesin Richard, Matthew Cameron, Keeven Daniels-Webb & Dylan Stevenson all finished with 2 points. Keifer Tacan stopped 38 shots of the 45 he faced in the game to earn the win.
Tyler Kemball led all Hawks’ scorers with 2 goals and 2 assists. Darryl Thaddeus added 2 goals and an assist. Rayne Nykyforuk, Jared Thickfoot, Evan Thickfoot & Dalton Woodhouse all finished with 2 points. Jarret Hogue faced 61 shots in the game, stopping 42 of them.
The South Division also had teams in action
Thursday night, as the St. Malo Warriors played host to the Lundar Falcons. The game remained scoreless in the first, until St. Malo found the back of the net, just past the midway point. Lundar countered with a goal of their own later in the period, and the score remained tied 1-1 after the first. Lundar took the lead in the 2
nd, scoring on the power play. The Warriors tied the game back up with a power play goal of their own, but just into the final minute of the 2
nd, the Falcons scored again to grab a 3-2 lead going into the third period. St. Malo tied the game on a power play goal, and then took the lead just 1:05 later with another power play goal. They capped their comeback off with an empty net goal in the final minute to take the 5-3 win.
St. Malo’s Riley Hunter led the team with 2 goals and an assist, while Jared Magne scored once and added 2 assists. Mark Nelson added 3 helpers. Ben Olson dished out two assists. Jordan Taylor stopped 23 of the 26 shots thrown his way to earn the win.
Lundar saw three players score single goals: Bryce Horning, Craig Caine & Breyden Turner. Jarrod Smith faced 47 shots in the game, stopping 43 of them.
A light
Friday schedule only saw one game – a South division matchup between the visiting Selkirk Fishermen & the Lundar Falcons. Both teams were looking for important points in this game & it proved to be a close checking physical affair. Neither team could find the mark in the first period and the teams headed to the dressing locked in a scoreless tie. Lundar opened the scoring in the 2
nd period, scoring twice within a 1:43 span to grab a 2-0 lead. Selkirk answered back with a goal only 35 seconds later to cut the lead to 2-1, and then added two more goals late in the period, including one shorthanded, to take a 3-2 lead headed to the 3
rd. The teams traded goals in the third period, with Lundar scoring theirs on the power play, but couldn’t get any closer, as Selkirk won a tight one by a 4-3 score.
Selkirk got two goals from Jeremy Pachkowsky. Michael Smiley & Dylan Painchaud-Niemi each scored single goals. Jordan Liske made 31 saves on the 34 shots he faced, to earn the win.
Breyden Turner led the Falcons with 2 assists. Brenden Carlson, Terence Roulette & Trent Laycock all scored single goals. Jarrod Smith turned aside 30 of the 34 shots he faced.
Action ramped back up on
Saturday with 3 games on the go. Arborg played host to the visiting St. Malo Warriors on “Minor Hockey Night” in Arborg. St. Malo opened the scoring, just 1:32 into the game. Arborg got on the board to tie it back up a little over 4 minutes later, and that’s how the first ended. With no scoring in the 2
ndperiod, it looked like the game would be decided in the 3
rd. Arborg broke the tie just before the midway point of the period, and then added an empty net goal in the final minute to ice the game and steal a 3-1 win.
The Ice Dawgs offence was led by Cory Kuldys who scored 2 goals, while Spencer Kilbrei added 2 assists. Clint Torfason scored a single goal. Jon Narverud stopped 52 of the 53 shots he faced in the game to earn the win.
Brett Keith scored St. Malo’s only goal in the game. Noah Fournier faced 35 shots, allowing 2 goals.
The Norway House North Stars played host to Peguis who was on a 2 game northern road trip. This game was all Peguis, as they simply overmatched the young North Stars. Peguis scored 4 times in the first period to take control of the game. They added 7 more goals in the second period, including a power play goal to lead 11-0 after 40 minutes. Peguis continued to pour on the offence, scoring 7 more times in the 3
rd to win convincingly 18-0.
Keeven Daniels-Webb scored once and added 6 assists to lead the Juniors offence. Matthew Cameron scored 3 times and added 3 assists, while Tristan Slater, Devon Garson, Dylan Stevenson & Theoren Spence all finished with 4 points. Jesse Flett, Waylon Neault & Denis Stevenson both added 3 points, while Tyler Woodhouse finished with 2 points. Keifer Tacan stopped all 14 shots he faced in the game for the shutout win.
No Norway House scorer found the net in the game. Jarred Gore faced 64 shots in the game, stopping 46 of them.
The final game of
Saturday saw the Fisher River Hawks in OCN for a back to back with the Storm. Fisher River opened the scoring, with what was the only goal of the first period. OCN tied the game in the 2
nd, but saw the Hawks go ahead just 41 seconds later. OCN again drew even, but then Hawks took a 3-2 just before the midway point. Over the final 7 minutes of the 2
nd, the Storm poured in 5 goals to grab a 7-3 lead. The 3
rd period saw the Storm score 4 more times, including both power play and shorthanded goals, while Fisher River countered with one. The final score ended up 11-4 OCN.
OCN was led by Camacho Lathlin, who scored 4 times and added 2 assists. Dawson Anderson scored a single goal and chipped in with 3 assists, while Nathan Gardner and Sam McKay Jr both finished with 3 points. Bryson Constant and Tyrel Buechert each recorded 2 points. Anthony Fontaine stopped 31 of the 35 shots he faced in the game.
Fisher River’s Darryl Thaddeus scored 3 times and added an assist. Dalton Woodhouse scored once and recorded 2 assists. Dakota Johnson stopped 51 of the 62 shots he faced in the game.
The week of games closed on Superbowl
Sunday with 2 scheduled events. Peguis completed their northern swing with a stop in Cross Lake. Peguis jumped out to a commanding first period lead, scoring in the first minute of play, adding a power play and shorthanded goal, along with 2 more even strength goals and held a 5-0 margin. They added 2 more in the 2
nd to lead 7-0, before Cross lake scored shorthanded to get on the board. Before the period was over however, the Juniors tacked on another power play goal to lead 8-1. The 3
rd period saw Peguis add one more to their total, while Cross Lake scored twice, including a power play goal, but fall 9-3 to Peguis.
Matthew Cameron rounded out his weekend with another 6 point game, scoring 3 times and adding 3 assists. Keeven Daniels-Webb and Tristan Slater both scored twice and added an assist. Keesin Richard & Quinton Flett each recorded 2 assists. Keifer Tacan turned aside 30 of the 33 shots he faced to earn the win.
The Islanders were led by Dennis Scatch, who scored twice and added an assist. Derian Duncan also scored a goal and dished out one assist. Kris Wood-Ross faced 39 shots in the game, stopping 30 of them.
The final game of the week saw the second game between Fisher River & OCN. OCN scored 3 times in the first, including a shorthanded marker, while Fisher River found the mark once, to leave the Storm with a 3-1 lead. The Hawks cut the lead to 3-2 early in the 2
nd, but the Storm took it back to 4-2. The Hawks scored again to cut the lead to 4-3, only to see OCN reply shortly after & then add another goal, this time on the power play and just 36 seconds later to double up Fisher River 6-3. The Hawks kept coming and got one back, on the power play before the period was over to cut the lead to 6-4. OCN came out flying in the 3
rd, and poured in 5 goals on the Hawks, including 2 on the power play. Fisher River got one back, but that was it, leaving this one a final 11-5 OCN.
Camacho Lathlin had another strong game, scoring twice and adding 3 assists. Nathan Gardner & Tyrel Buechert both added a hat trick and an assist. Bryson Constant, Sam McKay Jr, Brody Personius & Drake Lathlin all finished with 3 points. Wendell Easter chipped in with 2 points. Anthony Fontaine stopped 40 of the 45 shots he faced in the game.
The Hawks were led by Tyler McKay, who dished out 3 helpers in the game. Arnie Mason added 2 assists, while Dalton Woodhouse scored once and tacked on a helper. Dakota Johnson saw 47 shots thrown his way, and stopped 36 of them.
This brings us to the final week of play in the KJHL’s regular season. Some playoff positions and matchup are set, while others are still up in the air and will be decided by the outcome of this week’s games.
Tuesday night starts it all off with a game between the Selkirk Fishermen and the North Winnipeg Satelites.
Wednesday pits Lundar visiting Fisher River in an important matchup.
Thursday night sees the Norway House North Stars pay a visit to Cross Lake. On
Friday, a big game between the Arborg Ice Dawgs and the Peguis Juniors takes place, along with a bout that sees Selkirk head to St. Malo.
Saturday’s schedule has OCN heading to the Cross Lake in what could be a North Division semi-final matchup, while Peguis heads to Lundar to close out the season, looking to grab the North Division title.
Sunday has just one game scheduled, as the Norway House North Stars complete the season by hosting the OCN Storm.
The playoff schedule will be posted as soon as it’s received. The format will be as follows for the Survivor Series:
The 4
th and 5
th placed teams in both the North and South Divisions will play each other in a Best of 3 series. The winner of the series will continue in the playoffs, and will hold the 4
th seed. They will play the #1 seed in each division, in a best of 5 matchup.
Watch for further details on the website!