Up and down the Superior
Here and there in the Superior International Jr. Hockey League as the regular season schedule heads toward the end of October.
• Only one point separates the 8-2-0 Thunder Bay North Stars and the 7-2-1 Red Lake Miners atop the standings of the seven team loop. And while Kam River (4-2-1) and Dryden (4-5-1) are tied for third spot with nine points apiece, the Fighting Walleye has three games in hand on the Ice Dogs, not to mention the North Stars and Miners.
• Kam River is the only team that has a perfect home record to date. The Fighting Walleye has won all three games that it has played in the cozy confines of NorWest Arena.
• Scoring balance has been evident for Kam River. Alex Enegren, with four goals, four assists, eight points and defenseman Zach Fortin with 1-7-8 totals are atop the Fighting Walleye scoring chart followed by three players with identical 3-4-7 numbers — Jeremy Dunmore, Ethan Lang and Trenton Morriseau.
• Three Red Lake forwards are tied for second in league scoring — Lucas Piekarczyk has nine goals, four assists, 13 points while local product Jordan Baranesky has 6-7-13 totals and Brady Harroun has 5-8-13 statistics.
• Dryden forward Maxime Collette leads the league in scoring with 11 goals, 10 assists, 21 points.
• Top scoring defenseman is Raj Sangha of Thunder Bay with five goals, eight assists, 13 points.
• Austin Madge of Kam River is the league’s top goalie with a 3-1-0 record, a sparkling 1.95 goals against average and an eye popping .938 save percentage.
• Scoring goals has halted the 3-6-1 Wisconsin Lumberjacks who have found the back of the net just 15 times in 10 games. And it is a rookie defenseman, Jake McCall, who leads Wisconsin in scoring with one goal, six assists, seven points.
• Wisconsin defines the term ‘road warriors’ as the Lumberjacks have played eight of their 10 games away from home.
• Thief River Falls Norskies are slated to return to action on November 5. The Norskies have a 2-2-0 record but have not played a game since September 25 because of vaccination issues with a number of players that have reportedly now been resolved.
• Forward Ty Milgate, acquired by Fort Frances from Red Lake early last week, scored two goals in his Lakers debut to spark his new team to its first win of the season after opening up with six straight losses. Milgate managed just one assist in seven games with Red Lake prior to being obtained by Fort Frances in a cash deal.
• Kam River defenceman Calum McGill has been named to Great Britain’s under 20 world junior team. McGill will travel to Romania in early December to take part in the world class tournament.