OLIVER PAIPOONGE – Trystan Goodman will go down in Kam River Fighting Walleye history.
The Beardmore, Ont. native bounced a shot through traffic at 8:11 of the third period on Friday night, beating Thunder Bay North Stars goaltender Emerson Mercer to claim the first goal in franchise history.
It wasn't the prettiest goals, but it did the trick, sparking a previously anemic Fighting Walleye offence to life.
The expansion squad scored four times in the final stanza to open the eight-game Teleco Cup exhibition series at the Norwest Arena, but fell a goal short, dropping a thrilling 5-4 decision to the visiting North Stars.
“It felt pretty good,” the Thunder Bay Kings graduate said. “It was my first time seeing junior A ice. I got excited when I scored the first franchise goal.
“It was a flimsy shot. I didn't get all of it. It was just lucky, I guess.”
Goodman, who scored just once last season with the Kings, said the team didn't let an awful opening period get them down.
The Stars scored four times in a 6:13 span, Jacob Anttonen starting the onslaught with a shorthanded goal. Nikolas Campbell added a pair and Leeam Tivers had a single, backed by the shutout goaltender of veteran Jordan Smith.
But the Stars, with four goaltenders still in camp, lifted Smith midway through the second to give Mercer a shot. The experiment worked well until early in the third.
Once Goodman scored, the floodgates opened.
“The boys never stopped going. They were always going hard,” Goodman said. “They never gave up and we got pucks on net.”
And they finally started going in.
Trailing 5-1, Keaton Mercredi cut the North Stars lead to three at the 13:19 mark of the third. Kaden Katelnikoff added a third Fighting Walleye goal two minutes later, and 90 seconds after that Caleb Resch unleashed a high wrist shot from the slot that sailed untouched into the Thunder Bay net.
Kam River was down, but not out, said first-year coach Matt Valley.
Valley said it's not often he'll walk into the dressing room after a loss and be happy, but Game 1 happened to be one of those occasions.
“We have a young group, so to see that young group stay composed, respond and just start getting back to what our game is and simplifying our game and then just getting to the dirty areas, starting to get pucks on net and get to the net, it was huge,” Valley said.
“Obviously we were down 4-0 in 10 minutes ... To come back and basically win the (rest of) the game 4-1 in the last 50 minutes of the game is huge.”
Austin Madge surrendered five goals on 44 shots to take the loss, but stood tall in a scoreless second and only allowed a single goal after the opening period, a third-period power-play tally by Thunder Bay's Austin Cardinal.
Smith stopped all 24 shots he faced before being pulled midway through the second.
The two teams are playing a total of eight exhibition games between now and December and hope to start regular-season play early in 2021.
Only 50 fans were allowed inside the arena under COVID-19 restrictions imposed by the province. .
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Thunder Bay, Anttonen (unassisted) 3:28 (sh). 2. Thunder Bay, Campbell (Krupp) 7:49. 3. Thunder Bay, Tivers (Leishman, Michaelis) 8:11. 4. Thunder Bay, Campbell (Anttonen) 9:41. Penalties: Basaraba TB (body contact) 2:51, Pitawanakwat KR (body contact) 15:46, Cardinal TB (body contact) 16:36, Fortier KR (holding) 17:24.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: No scoring. Penalties: Smith KR (high sticking) 6:15, Foreshew TB, Tyska TB (roughing) 6:28, Tivers TB, Resch KR (unsportsmanlike conduct) 8:01, Lampi TB (body contact) 9:50, Couvier KR (body contact) 16:23,
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 5. Thunder Bay, A. Cardinal (Tivers, R. Cardinal) 4:20 pp. 6. Kam River, Goodman (Morrow) 8:11, 7. Kam River, Mercredi (Halcrew, Enegren) 13:19. 8. Kam River, Katelnikoff (Goodman, Tyska) 15:13. 9. Kam River, Resch (Morriseau) 16:23. Penalties: Meloche TB (hooking) 1:30, Morrow KR (high sticking) 1:37, Mercredi KR (interference) 2:13, Belluz TB (holding) 5:55, Leishman TB (holding) 11:15. Foreshew TB (cross checking) 12:01, Couvier KR (slashing) 12:38, Foreshew TB (tripping) 15:09
SOG – Thunder Bay 20-11-13-44, Kam River 14-12-14-40; Power plays (goals-chances) – Thunder Bay (1-7), Kam River (0-7); Goaltenders: Thunder Bay: Jordan Smith (24 shots, 24 saves), Emerson Mercer (12:10 second), Kam River: Austin Madge; A: 50.
