By Brett Richter
The famous children’s song goes, “The wheels on the bus go round and round; round and round; round and round…..” Well, the Ironwood Lumberjacks better start singing along as they enter a very tough travel schedule over the next several weeks. The initial contest of the three weeklong series of road trips began Tuesday evening when the Jacks rode into Kam River to take on the third place Fighting Walleye. With two teams not very fond of each other, the Lumberjack vs Walleye contest is always subject to big hitting, fast skating and a ton of on ice conversation. Coach Lein expected nothing less on this night.
The competitive nature of the Lumberjack squad has been trending in the positive direction over the past several weeks. With points in four of the last 10 contests, the Jacks stepped on the ice surface ready for an opening period against a potential first round playoff opponent. The Lumberjacks began the opening period playing even five on five hockey with netminder Gavin Covrig doing his fair share of work. At the 6:47 mark of the first, Tim Hanulik put his fifth goal of the season behind the Walleye net minder with the only assist being credited to Owen DeBrody. The Jacks played well with the one goal lead for the next 13 minutes. With less than a minute remaining in the period, a Walleye shot was tipped in the slot and got past the Ironwood goalie tying the score at one. What appeared to be a high stick tip was challenged by Ironwood, but the goal was allowed to stand. The period ended in a 1-1 tie.
23 seconds into the second period, a scramble in front of the Walleye net found Captain Will Porter scoring his 11th goal of the season to give the Jacks an early 2-1 lead in the second. Jack Carruthers dumped a nice pass to the front of the net for the only assist on the Porter goal. But the lead was short lived as the Walleye added a tally just 1:20 seconds later. The scoreboard was quickly tied again. The second Walleye goal pushed momentum to the visitors allowing them to pressure the Lumberjack defense. The pressure caused a crack, and the Walleyes added a third goal at the 7:18 mark of the second. But change was coming. The potent Ironwood power play hit the ice at the 11:04 mark following a Kam River penalty. Less than one minute later, Jack Carruthers buried his team leading 12th goal of the season with power play assists credited to Andrew Brubakken and Tim Hanulik. The score was tied once again, with eight minutes remaining in the second. The 3-3 tie was broken less than two minutes later after a defensive scramble in the Ironwood zone allowed the Walleye to add a fourth goal on the evening. With Ironwood unable to regain momentum and continuing to adjust, the home team added a fifth goal exactly two minutes later with the scoreboard now reading 3-5 in favor of the Walleye. Finally, team captain Will Porter forced momentum back on the Lumberjacks side of the ice with a beautiful goal as just over 30 seconds remained in the period. The assists on the Porter goal were credited to Brubakken and Carruthers. With seven combined goals scored in the second period, the horn sounded and the Lumberjacks trailed 4-5.
Scoring is great, but defense wins games. During the second intermission, Coach Lein made it clear there was a glaring need to be better in their own zone. Through two periods, the Jacks had given up 31 shots on goal and only tallied 15 shots of their own. Entering the ice for third period, the Lumberjacks returned to the disciplined system asked for by Coach Lein. With eight minutes gone in the third, a seeing shot from the blueline went past a screened Covrig giving the home team a 4-6 lead over the Lumberjacks. Not wanting to fold, the Lumberjacks dug deep. At the 14:41 mark, Felix St-Onge scored his third goal of the season with assists credited to Jack Hanna and Ryland Elsenpeter. The contest returned to a slim one goal margin. The Lumberjacks added pressure over the last 5 minutes, but failed to add the equalizer losing by a final score of 5-6.
After a short night’s rest, the Lumberjack bus is on the road for a rare morning game on Wednesday as they face the Thunder Bay Northstars. Wednesday’s 10:00 AM CST game is a special contest where local Thunder Bay grade schools attend. The SIJHL All-Star weekend, next on the schedule for all teams, is being held February 6 & 7 in Dryden. The Lumberjack team returns to regular SIJHL action February 11 & 12, when a long road trip takes them to Red Lake to play the Miners.