RED LAKE – The Dryden Ice Dogs are regular-season champions.
Evan Mayer scored twice on Tuesday night to lead the Ice Dogs to a 7-2 road win over the Red Lake Miners, the win clinching Dryden the No. 1 seed heading into the playoffs.
Dryden scored four unanswered goals in the second period to pull away, after Red Lake battled back from a 3-0 deficit in the first to cut the Ice Dogs lead to 3-2 after the opening period.
Kelby Diehl, Elias Eisenbarth, Eli Anotine, Jordan Wales and Max Roby also scored for Dryden, who improved to 36-8-5, giving them a six-point cushion over the second-place Kam River Fighting Walleye, who have just two games left to play.
Corbyn Demchuk and Ryan Heuser scored for the Miners (21-19-7), who remain one point up on Fort Frances in fifth place.
Thunder Bay 7, Ironwood 3: The North Stars scored four unanswered goals to down the visiting Lumberjacks at Fort William Gardens. Tyler Jordan scored twice to move within a goal of league leader Daxton Lang of the Kam River Fighting Walleye. Jarred Feist, Matthew Lysak, Acoyen Fehr, Eri Sheriff and Alex Remenda also tallied for the North Stars. Marshall Thomas, Jack Carruthers and Felix St-Onge had the Lumberjacks goals. The win moves Thunder Bay (31-12-5) two points ahead of fourth-place Sioux Lookout (30-13-5), with two games to go.
