THUNDER BAY – Sixty-nine seconds in and the Fighting Walleye were on the board.
They didn’t score much more after that, but when you’ve got a goaltender like Ashton Sadauskas between the pipes, sometimes it’s not needed.
Saudaskas made 25 saves on Friday night, coming up huge in the closing minutes with the host Thunder Bay North Stars pressing for the equalizer, and the Fighting Walleye held on for a 3-1 win in front of 1,175 fans at Fort William Gardens.
Kaden Goodwin notched a pair of goals, including an insurance marker into the empty net, and Daxton Lang scored once, beating North Stars goaltender Keenan Marks just 69 seconds into the contest, earning Kam River its third straight Superior International Junior Hockey League win.
“I thought Ashton played outstanding. He made some key saves down at the end and that’s what you ask from a goaltender,” said Fighting Walleye coach Larry Wintoneak, his team improving to 17-8-0, 12-3-0 since he took over the reins 10 games into the 2024-25 campaign.
“You’ve got to make those big saves when he did and that’s why we got the two points. He was outstanding tonight. We didn’t give them two or three opportunities. It was one shot and done and we cleared the puck.”
Getting a quick one early, just as fans were settling into their seats at the 73-year-old arena, was a huge key, Wintoneak added.
“We started early, we got that quick goal there and that kind of helped us spin the momentum. I thought all-in-all it was a good hitting game, the power play and penalty kill were good. It was just a good hockey game all around,” he said.
The Stars, outshot 13-7 in the first, found their legs toward the latter half of the second and it was Connor Larrett who finally broke through, batting the puck out of mid-air past Sadauskas, cutting the Fighting Walleye advantage to 2-1.
The on-ice officials conferred for a brief second to determine if it was a legal goal or a high stick, but quickly placed the puck at centre ice before explaining their ruling to both benches.
Marks made a big stop early in the third on Godwin, who took a cross ice pass from Jett Mintenko just outside the North Stars crease.
Thunder Bay’s Beau Helmeczi had a similar chance at the eight-minute mark, but was stuffed by Saudaskas on a backhand attempt. Moments later Spencer Gryba fired a puck through traffic that rattled around the crease before being knocked out of harm’s way.
Thunder Bay coach Rob DeGagne pulled Marks with 2:42 to play and the North Stars offence was buzzing around the Kam River zone. After Carter Poddubny missed an empty-net chance Helmeczi nearly redirected a pass behind Sadauskas, but Goodwin eventually got the puck and fired it into the open cage, the insurance marker coming with nine seconds to go in regulation.
Marks made 24 saves on the night.
The two teams shift to the Norwest Arena on Saturday night. Game time is 7:05 p.m.
Dryden 4, Fort Frances 2: McKale Paul score the game-winner for the first-place Ice Dogs, who won for the third straight outing.
Red Lake 5, Kenora 2: Flynn Maxcy had a pair to lead the Miners past the Islanders. Red Lake led 2-1 after two periods, but scored three times in the third.
Sioux Lookout 3, Ironwood 1: Cedrik Robidoux scored twice in the third to break open a 1-1 contest. Collin Baker had Ironwood's lone tally.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Kam River, Lang 19 (Labelle, Mintenko) 1 :09. 2. Kam River, Goodwin 12 (Lang, Mintenko) 14:34. Penalties: Labelle KRW (holding) 4:03, Liang KRW (hooking) 15:06, Simeoni TB (high sticking) 17:14.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 3. Thunder Bay, Larrett (Simeoni) 14:53. Penalties: Labelle KRW (interference) 1:23, Franz TB (roughing) 16:24.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 4. Kam River, Goodwin 13 (Mintenko) en. Penalties: Adams KRW (cross checking) 1:09,
GAME DATA – SOG – Kam River 13-6-9-28, Thunder Bay 7-10-8-25; Power plays (goals-chances) – Kam River (0-2), Thunder Bay (0-4); Goaltenders – Kam River: Ashton Saudaskas, Thunder Bay: Keenan Marks; A: 1,175.
