A long drought of game action will come to an end for both local squads in the Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL).
The Thunder Bay North Stars and Kam River Fighting Walleye both last played on December 18th, which is a span of 48 days.
Friday, February 4th will mark the fifth head-to-head meeting this season, and their first since the last weekend of November.
The Fighting Walleye lead the series 3-1 and have outscored the North Stars 13-11.
“(The North Stars) bring their lunch pails when they come to the rink, they’re well coached and when you get good goaltending that’s a pretty strong recipe (for success),” stated Kam River Head Coach Matt Valley. “We’ve got to find ways to get better and not let their style dictate how the game goes. If we stick to the way we want to play, we’re going to be successful team.”
During the 27-day pause in game action, the Fighting Walleye shipped out forwards Callum McGill, Owen Lancaster and Kjell Osborne and added a few players in the hopes of a deep run towards the Dudley Hewitt Cup in May.
The blue line will feature Max McNeil while up front the team welcomed Dayton Clarke along with Anthony Oviedo and Logan Gallagher.
On the other side, the North Stars said goodbye to forward Dawson Lampi and defenceman Raj Sangha while adding rearguard Matthew Halushak along with forwards Dylan Winsor and Edison Weeks.
Thunder Bay Head Coach Rob DeGagne confirms that it may be a while before Halushak suits up for his hometown team as he’s just coming off of shoulder surgery.
“Hopefully with the changes we’ve made, we’ll be able to be on the right side of (any future) overtime games,” DeGagne added. “They got a good team, they’re well coached and got a lot of skilled players so hopefully we’ll be able to match them and beat them.”
The other game on the schedule Friday features the Fort Frances Lakers skating with the Wisconsin Lumberjacks.
The Superior League will complete the 2021-2022 season with six teams after it was announced on January 31st that the Thief River Falls Norskies will pause operations effective immediately.
