OLIVER PAIPOONGE – The Kenora Islanders were no match for the Kam River Fighting Walleye.
Tied for top spot in the Superior International Junior Hockey League standings, the Fighting Walleye on Friday night dismantled their first-year opponent, scoring five times in the opening period alone and went on to claim a lopsided 11-1 home-ice triumph at the Norwest Arena.
Kam River showed it could score in bunches.
The team’s first three goals were scored a scant 78 seconds apart and then, after giving up a 5-on-3 goal to the Islanders, Brayden Bell and Sam Sargent needed just 42 second to up the Fighting Walleye’s lead to 5-1, an advantage they’d take into the second.
It was more of the same in the middle stanza, the heavily favoured Fighting Walleye dominating puck possession from start to finish, unleashing a flurry of Orange Wave Indigenous Night towels waving furiously throughout the Oliver Paipoonge rink.
It was the eighth win in a row for Kam River (32-9-1) and the 11th straight loss suffered by the Islanders (2-37-1), who have been outscored 289-81 this season and have only picked up points in three of 41 contests.
Fighting Walleye forward Daxton Lang, who put up two goals and two assists for a career high four-point night, said it’s been a crazy season, personally, but things are starting to turn around.
“There’s been a lot of ups and downs over the years, some pretty big injuries and I’ve been out sometimes. So, it’s good to get those ones in there and I’ll try to make the most of the last couple of games I have,” said the White City, Sask. native, who matched his 2022-23 totals with eight goals and 14 assists, playing in 17 fewer games.
The fast start helped the cause, he added.
“It was great to see four lines deep, just run our game plan and obviously get some success out of it,” said Lang, who sat out nearly three months with an injury.
Friday’s game, bogged down by endless penalty calls, was over in a hurry.
Ryan Daponte, Ryan Doucette and Nicholas Fagnilli, with his first of two on the night, staked Kam River to a 3-0 lead before Kenora’s Keanu Woodhouse finally got the Islanders on the board, scoring on a 5-on-3 advantage at the 12:42 mark of the first, the lone goal given up by Kam River goaltender Travis VanderZwaag.
Connor Dunham-Fox, the beleaguered Islanders netminder, wasn’t quite as effective at the other end of the rink, but he did face 84 shots and made 73 saves, 53 more than his opponent.
That’s a busy night.
The Walleye kept pressing in the second, Lang and Max Wright scoring to extend the Kam River lead to 7-1.
Jacob Sargent and Lang scored shorthanded goals 13 seconds apart in the third and Carter Nailen and Fagnilli helped the home side over the double-digit hump for the first time this season.
The win helped the Fighting Walleye keep pace with the Thunder Bay North Stars, who rallied from 4-0 down to edge the Fort Frances Lakers 5-4 in overtime. Fort Frances-born Lucas Bailey, making his SIJHL debut, scored the winner 17 seconds into the extra frame.
The Walleye and North Stars are tied with 65 points, but Kam River holds four games in hand.
In other action, Dryden edged Wisconsin 6-5 and Sioux Lookout (30-9-4)downed Red Lake 4-1 and sit a point out of first place.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Kam River, Daponte 7 (Poddubny, Liang) 5:25. 2. Kam River, Doucette 16 (Mintenko, Labelle) 6:27. 3. Kam River, Fagnilli 18 (Lang, B. Bell) 6 :43. 4. Kenora, Woodhouse 1 (Favreau, Priest) 12:42 pp. 5. Kam River, B. Bell 6 (Poddubny, Nailen) 16:20. 6. Kam River, S. Sargent 3 (Liang, Wright) 17:02. Penalties: Zurkan KEN (roughing), Lang KRW (holding the stick) 7:48, Kinnavanthong KRW (charging) 10:56, Lachimea KRW (interference) 12:02, Mackay KEN (slashing) 15:39, Fagnilli KRW (unsportsmanlike conduct) 18:19.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 7. Kam River, Lang 7 (Duchesne) 6:08. 8. Kam River, Wright (Kinnavanthong, S. Sargent) 15:55. Penalties: Liang KRW (boarding major, game misconduct) 0:13, Lang KRW (boarding) 3:49, Bertschinger KEN (boading) 4:11, Swampy KEN (slashing) 5:44, McPherson-Nepinak KEN (slashing) 7:44, Traverse KEN (roughing), Duchesne KRW (holding) 10:52, Swampy KEN (high sticking, unsportsmanlike conduct), S. Sargent KRW (unsportsmanlike conduct) 13:10, Woodhouse KEN (tripping) 18:12.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 9. Kam River, J Sargent (Lang, Kinnavanthong) 8:03 sh. 10. Kam River, Lang 8 (Goodwin) 8:16 sh. 11. Kam River, Nailen (Mintenko, Doucette) 14:31. 12. Kam River, Fagnilli 19 (Daponte, L. Bell) 19:36. Penalties: Lemieux KEN (cross checking) 4:40, S. Sargent KRW (roughing) 7:52,
GAME DATA – SOG – Kenora 9-6-6-21, Kam River 28-28-28-84; Power plays (goals-chances) – Kenora (1-6), Kam River (2-8); Goaltenders – Kenora: Connor Dunham-Fox, Kam River: Travis VanderZwaag; A: 893.
