IRONWOOD, Mich. – The Kam River Fighting Walleye have joined the Dryden Ice Dogs in the second round.
They did it with the least amount of time on ice possible.
The Fighting Walleye on Wednesday completed a four-game sweep of the Ironwood Lumberjacks, downing their hosts 4-1 at the Pat O’Donnell Civic centre, winning the best-of seven series in the minimum number of games.
Evan Lachimea scored once and added an assist to pace the Kam River offence, with other goals going to Jacob Lamoureux, Callum Halls and Cole Piccinin, all four tallies coming in the second period.
Aidan Charron, with his second of the playoffs, had the lone goal for the Lumberjacks, who bowed out of the playoffs in the opening round.
The Fighting Walleye and the Ice Dogs will play the wait-and-see game to determine who’ll they play in the Superior International Junior Hockey League semifinal.
Fort Frances 5, Thunder Bay 1: A night after collapsing late against the North Stars, the Lakers bounced back with a dominating performance that saw them chase Thunder Bay goaltender Keenan Marks in the second.
Brady Krentz and Ian Ness staked the Lakers to a 2-0 lead after one period. Evan Kabel, Carter Deschamps and Noah McPherson scored unanswered goals in the second to lead Fort Frances to an all-important Game 4 win that knotted their SIJHL quarterfinal at two games apiece. Nolan Koethler made 34 saves to earn the win in nets for Fort Frances, who will travel to Thunder Bay for Friday night’s Game 5. Eric Sheriff snapped his shutout bid with 3:06 to go in the third.
Sioux Lookout 5, Red Lake 1: The defending champion Bombers evened their best-of-seven series 2-2, downing the Miners on the road. Michael Casey and Owen Cotter broke open a 2-1 game with goals 1:21 apart in the second. Jonah Smith and Sage Roberts, with a pair, also scored for Sioux Lookout, who will host Game 5 on Friday night. Bryson Carlyle had the Miners tally.
