Thunder sweep Ice Dogs

Facing a 2-0 deficit, they lined up outside the visitors’ dressing room and waited for the officials to step onto the ice to start the third period.
And though they were down, the Borderland Thunder were still confident they would collect the win and sweep their best-of-seven semi-final series against the Dryden Ice Dogs there Saturday night.
“Let’s get her done boys. Twenty minutes left. Don’t hold back,” shouted Thunder forward Aaron Boyer, who spoke as if his team was the one facing elimination.
The first two periods were filled with drama—including controversial officiating, two power-play goals by the Ice Dogs, and shouting matches between the two teams’ head coaches.
But everything started to come to fruition in the third period for the Thunder, who preferred not to see a Game 5 back in Fort Frances on Tuesday night.
A little more than five minutes had ticked away when Dennis Morrison collected a loose puck after Martin Kloucek prevented it from leaving Dryden’s zone.
Morrison patiently waited as the puck fluttered towards him and made a calculating backhand to find the back of the net.
The Thunder then continued to apply pressure on Ice Dogs goalie Shaun Szachary, but weren’t able to put traffic in front of the crease area to give him any difficulties.
With 1:03 left in the game, Dave Allison waved goalie Jared Baldwin (usual starter Tyler Gordon missed the game due to fatigue) to the bench to put an extra Thunder attacker on the ice.
He then witnessed Ian Lockman and Morgan Cekalla maintain control of puck along the end boards in the Dryden zone before finding Kurt Hogard at the point.
“I was creeping up from the blueline and Cekalla had the puck and Lockman had the puck and they were trying to feed the middle but found me, and I just got it right on the sweet spot and put it on the ice and the goalie didn’t even see it,” Hogard recalled.
The Thunder rode that wave of emotion into the 10-minute overtime frame that took place right after the third period. And Josh McAndrew needed only five minutes to lift his team to ecstasy after scoring on a backhand in the slot.
“Denny [Morrison] walked up the boards and took both of their defenders with them and he just threw it down to the goal line and I walked out and put a backhander shortside on the goalie,” said McAndrew.
“They focused on the game, and when you do that and when you sacrifice as much as they did personally to get those opportunities to win, then they deserve it—they deserve to win,” added Allison.
“I thought our boys did a great job of keeping control because I don’t think the referee had much control, especially in the first two periods. It was almost blatant cheating,” Allison charged.
“There were some viscous stuff out there and if you miss it, then your linesmen should call it,” he remarked.
The Thunder now will focus their sights on the Fort William First Nation North Stars, who already swept the K&A Variety Golden Hawks in their best-of-seven semi-final series, for the SIJHL’s Bill Salonen Cup and a ticket to the Dudley Hewitt Cup.
Game 1 and 2 between the top two teams in the SIJHL (the North Stars had a regular-season record of 42-2-4 while the Thunder were 30-15-3) will take place this Friday and Saturday (April 1-2) in Thunder Bay.
Games 3 and 4 are slated for next Friday and Saturday (April 8-9) at the Ice for Kids Arena, with both games starting at 7:30 p.m.
“We’ll enjoy this and we’ll start to focus on the North Stars because it’s going to be a great task,” said Allison. “But we’ve proven that we can beat them.”