DRYDEN, Ont. – A Shaye Sommerfeld goal with just over seven minutes remaining helped the Red Lake Miners comeback and pull out a 4-3 victory over the Dryden GM Ice Dogs in front of nearly 800 spectators in Superior International Junior Hockey League play Saturday at Memorial Arena.
After being postponed due to a severe thunderstorm and high winds that caused a lengthy power outage in Red Lake Friday, the two teams were able to take to the ice Saturday in Dryden.
The Miners came out quickly and took a 1-0 lead on a Sean Gula effort two minutes in, only to see the GM Ice Dogs counter with tallies from Malcolm Huemmert and Xavier Halterman’s first in the league to give a hosts a 2-1 edge after one period.
The Dryden power play helped them go up by two early in the second when Nolan Marshall notched his first SIJHL marker at 1:29.
Down a man a few minutes later, Red Lake’s Ethan Stuckless struck shorthanded to bring the visitors back to within one heading to the third.
In the final frame, Morgan Venne snapped a shot over the glove of Dryden starter Jacob Anthony at 11:46 to tie things up.
The Miners then came right back and got the game-winner from Sommerfeld as his stuffed in the difference maker from close range during a goal-mouth scramble that just trickled over the goal line in what proved to be the difference maker.
Dryden pulled Anthony late to try and force overtime, but Red Lake held on to give new head coach and general manager Geoff Walker the win in his SIJHL debut behind the Miners’ bench.
Zach Willms made 35 saves to register the victory for Red Lake while Anthony had 31 stops in defeat for the GM Ice Dogs.
Photo credit: Kerri-Ann Kanceruk