The Borderland Thunder began their SIJHL season on Sept. 25. It’s now Oct. 20 and the team has yet to lose a league game—winning seven-straight after opening with a 1-1 tie on the road against the Fort William First Nation North Stars.
They have scored 34 goals over that eight-game span while allowing only 12.
So is the team’s early-season success a surprise?
“No. No [it’s] not,” said head coach Dave Allison after the team’s victory over the Thunder Bay Bulldogs here Friday night.
“I mean, you’re pleased with their work ethic and I’ve enjoyed this so far, but we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves because we know that we’re going to have our trials and tribulations,” he added.
They haven’t faced any trials and tribulations yet, and last weekend’s home series against the Bulldogs was nothing but smooth sailing for the Thunder. They outshot their opponent 103-49 en route to a pair of shutout wins—7-0 on Friday and 6-0 on Saturday.
The Thunder certainly feasted on the winless—and bite-less—Bulldogs, but were also cautious not to play down to their opponents’ level, which often happens to top teams when facing opposition of a lower calibre.
“Against a team like this, it’s hard to get a good start because, realistically, we’re only going to beat ourselves,” said Thunder captain Josh McAndrew, who netted two goals and an assist in Friday’s win.
“If they beat us, it’s going to be because of our mistakes,” added McAndrew, who also scored a goal Saturday.
Goalies Tim Higbee and Tyler Gordon exchanged starts for the two games, which is something the duo has been doing since the season started. Higbee stopped 26 shots in Friday’s shutout while Gordon steered away 23 on Saturday.
Allison said he will continue to give both goalies equal playing time.
“Both of them are going to play,” he stressed. “There’s no question to that, and they both play well for us.”
On the down side, the Thunder amassed 97 penalty minutes over the two games against the Bulldogs, which is something they must work on, and they also must start finding offensive production elsewhere other than their top line of McAndrew, Dennis Morrison, and Aaron Boyer.
That tandem has accounted for 44 percent of the team’s goal-scoring so far (15 of 34 goals), and at least one of them has been involved in 39 percent of any scoring play (32 points of the team’s 83).
“Our younger guys have to learn from our older guys because our older guys really play hard,” said Allison. “Other guys have to figure that out—that you have to play hard all the time.
“I think there’s more from guys like Schallenhammer [two points], and Woods [four points], and Calhoun [two points], and Riggs [two points], and they’ve got to embrace that there’s no shifts off.
“I think as they get in better and better shape, they’ll be dominant players,” Allison added. “But it comes with a price and it’s not going to happen overnight.”
One player making an onus to get better and contribute more is Tyler Barker, who best can be described as the team’s agitator with an average of 4.5 penalty minutes per game. He also has contributed two goals and four assists so far.
“Being a smaller guy, you’ve got to keep your feet moving and be quick or else you’ll get run into the boards,” said the 5’8,” 160-pound Barker, who got a goal to go along with nine penalty minutes in Saturday’s win.
Barker is a boost of energy for the team whenever he steps from the bench with his scrappy play and skating ability, and the Devlin hockey product is enjoying the team’s current winning streak.
“It’s pretty good,” he remarked. “I’ve never played on a team that has gone undefeated for this long and it’s a good feeling.
“Everyone’s getting along, and it’s strange because I haven’t played on many teams like this, either,” he admitted. “With some teams you get enemies within the team, but this year, it seems like we’re pretty tight with each other.”
That sentiment was echoed by Morrison, who with 12 points (five goals/seven assists) is tied with McAndrew (seven goals/five assists) as the SIJHL scoring leaders.
“The guys from last year have made the new guys comfortable, and it’s been going pretty good so far and it does feel good to still be undefeated,” said Morrison, who racked up two goals and three assists against the Bulldogs.
But even though everything might be champagne wishes and caviar dreams in the Thunder dressing room these days, the team is quick to point out they only have played the defending champion North Stars once so far this season.
And though they may be two points ahead of Fort William for first place (with a game in hand), the North Stars still are the cream of the SIJHL.
“You don’t want to wait and see what other teams are doing, you want to see if they can catch you, and that’s really the challenge that we’ve got going here,” said Allison.
“Not to compare ourselves to teams that we’re better than now, but to compare ourselves to teams that are better than us—and we better make sure that we’re catching up to them,” he stressed.
“The North Stars are a dynamic team, and I’d like to think that as long as we keep our wits about us and get better, then we’re gaining,” Allison added. “We’re taking the right direction to catch up to the North Stars, but they’re still the champions.”
The Thunder will look to extend their unbeaten string this Friday and Saturday when they travel to Thunder Bay to face the Bulldogs once again.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
