After playing four games in five days it is very clear not much separates the Dryden Ice Dogs and Red Lake Miners. In their Thursday series finale it was the Ice Dogs who finished in front winning 3-2 on home ice.
After an overtime thriller on Wednesday Dryden looked to take advantage of being home. The Miners traveled back to Red Lake after the game then got back in their vehicles for another drive south.
Dryden scored on their first shot of the game when Cameron Ware beat 17-year old goaltender Matt Perdue. It might have been a wake up call for the SIJHL rookie who kept the Ice Dogs off the scoreboard for the next 43 minutes of the game.
Ryan Howe evened things for the Miners scoring a powerplay marker at 4:54 of the first. Kaden Whaley and Mason Mantzavrakos assisted on the Howe tally, his first this season. Howe is a second-year veteran for Red Lake after being named the SIJHL Rookie of the Year in 2019-20.
The teams played a scoreless second, but Dryden grabbed the lead early in the third on a goal scored by Evan Pakkalla set up by Nolan Marshall and Xavier Halterman.
Dryden made it 3-1 at the 7:44 mark when Kendall Schulz bounced a shot of a defender into the net.
There would be no quit in the Miners though and they closed the gap when Mario DeCapite slapped a shot past Dryden keeper Dylan Kosik with 3:17 to play in regulation. Red Lake would pull their goaltender late in the period, but could not find the tying goal.
Kosik won his second straight in net for Dryden making 27 saves while Perdue stopped 26 of 29 shots in a losing effort.