OLIVER PAIPOONGE – Oh, woah, they’re halfway there.
But the Kam River Fighting Walleye aren’t living on a prayer.
No, they’re living once again on the overtime heroics of senior forward Jett Mintenko, who took a cross-ice pass from Daxton Lang and buried a power-play goal 2:07 into overtime on Wednesday night to secure a 3-2, Game 3 win that gives the Fighting Walleye a 2-1 lead over the Dryden Ice Dogs in their best-of-seven Bill Salonen Cup final.
It was Mintenko’s second tally of the night and seventh in 11 playoff games, and helped erase the memories of an early 2-0 Dryden lead, the Ice Dogs scoring twice on a four-minute minor assessed to Easton Debray early in the middle frame.
“I think our power play has been clicking all playoffs. It was a nice little seeing pass from Dax and I just wanted to get it on net and luckily it squeaked in,” Mintenko said.
Kam River coach Larry Wintoneak said there’s a reason the veteran forward is known as Mr. Clutch in the dressing room.
“He’s the kind of kid that rises up to those challenges. That line and our power play got two big goals, especially the one in overtime there. I give credit to everybody. We play our way and good things happen.”
Both teams had plenty of time to work on their power play and penalty kills, the on-ice officials awarding a total of 16 power plays on the night, equally divided between the two sides.
Mintenko wasn’t willing to dwell on the abundance of calls, just happy to be one step closer to winning his first Superior International Junior Hockey League championship.
“I was relieved,” he said, asked about how it felt when the overtime winner found the back of the Dryden net, rifled past Ice Dogs goaltender Noah Davis, who stopped 41 of 44 shots directed his way – including a Michigan attempt in the third off the stick of Lang.
“Coming back from two down, I think we just wanted to get that one. I thought we could have had a couple earlier in the third too. Just seeing it go in was a sigh of relief, excitement, every single bit of emotion,” said Mintenko, who also score the overtime winner that secured a semifinal sweep over the Thunder Bay North Stars just two weeks earlier.
After the two teams played a scoreless first, it was the ice Dogs who started the scoring off in the second, Debray in the box serving a double-minor for kneeing.
Rylan Oatman jammed the puck past Ashton Sadauskas at 5:50 of the second, and then, with time still left on the back-half of the four-minute penalty, Payton Hu doubled the Ice Dogs lead just 37 seconds later.
Mintenko managed to get one back, at 14:41 of the second, but try as they might, the host Walleye couldn’t figure out how to solve Davis. Callum Halls was stymied alone in the slot and Mintenko and Lang both fanned on shots that would have given the Dryden goaltender trouble had they connected.
It was Halls who finally notched the equalizer. Sam Sargent was stopped on a chance in the slot and the puck found its way to Halls, who dug out the loose puck and slammed it home, tying the game 2-2 with 4:04 to go in regulation.
The Fighting Walleye survived a penalty kill in the final two minutes, regrouped and put a quick end to the contest, played in front of 890 fans at Norwest Arena, early in overtime.
Game 3 goes Thursday night at Norwest. Game time is 7 p.m.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: None. Penalties: Kukko KRW (tripping) 0:19, Goodwin KRW (boarding) 4:35, Nkombou DRY (interference) 5:16, Goreniuk RY (slashing) 7:55, Kuukko KRW 16:55.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Dryden, Oatman 5 (Kerbes,Antoine) 5:50 pp. 2. Dryden, Hu (Devine, Roby) 6:27 pp. 3. Kam River, Mintenko 6 (Liang, Lang) 14:41 pp. Penalties: Roby DRY (roughing) 2:03, Debray KRW (kneeing) 4:58. Debray KRW (interference) 7:11, Balicki DRY (high sticking) 9:59. Lang KRW (boarding) 10:57, Antoine DRY (tripping) 14:09.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 4. Kam River, Halls (Sargent) 13:56. Penalties: Zimmerman DRY (interference) 8:20, Lachimea KRW (interference) 17:14.
OVERTIME
Scoring: Kam River, Mintenko 7 (Lang, Liang) 2:07 pp. Penalties: Nkombou DRY (roughing) 0:55,
GAME DATA – SOG – Dryden 11-13-8-4-36, Kam River 14-9-18-1-42; Power plays (goals-chances) – Dryden (2-8), Kam River (2-8); Goaltenders – Dryden: Noah Davis, Kam River: Ashton Sadauskas; A: 890.
