Thunder may keep playing dog-catchers

Who let the dogs out? The Borderland Thunder, that’s who.
But they soon may have another cavalcade of canines to deal with soon.
The Thunder earned payback—and a week-long rest to boot—by disposing of the defending SIJHL champion Dryden Ice Dogs with a pair of road victories last weekend to give them a 4-0 win in their best-of-seven semi-final series.
“I wasn’t here last year, but there are a lot of guys who were that this is very sweet for,” said Thunder head coach Dave Allison after his squad polished off the Ice Dogs, who had pulled off their own four-game sweep against the Thunder in last year’s inaugural SIJHL final.
“I think it says a lot about the discipline and intestinal fortitude of the guys in our locker room,” he added. “Dryden was a team that we knew didn’t play with a lot of composure. We knew regardless of what they did, the team that would enjoy the series the most would be the team that won.
“The guys sucked it up, and now we have the opportunity to rest and get ready for the next series.”
That best-of-seven showdown to decide the SIJHL crown, which opens here April 1-2 at 7:30 p.m., will pit the Thunder against the winner of the other semi-final series between the Thunder Bay KC Bulldogs and the Fort William First Nation Wolves.
The Bulldogs lead that series 3-1 after a pair of wins on the road last weekend. Game 5 goes tonight back at the Fort William Gardens.
The casual observer might think a Fort William comeback would be in the Thunder’s best interests, but that’s not how Allison sees it.
“We’d prefer to play the Bulldogs,” he remarked. “The top two teams in the league should play for the championship.
“It’s also because the Wolves are a team that doesn’t play with a lot of discipline, and we would rather play a team that does,” he added.
Thunder Bay boasts not only the league’s hottest goalie in Bill Gerry, who went 11-4-1 with a league-leading .917 save percentage after joining the team late in the season, but also the imposing trio of SIJHL scoring champ Trevor Karasiewicz (105 points in 50 games), Rylan Vesa (No. 4 in scoring with 79 points) and Brian Dzijak, the league’s goal-scoring king in the regular season (43) and so far in the playoffs (six).
“Gerry has given them excellent goaltending, and they’ve got some strong opposing forward lines,” noted Allison. “But I don’t think we’ve played the best we can play yet. It’s up to us.”
While players like Kevin Webb and Matt Johnson (three goals apiece in the Dryden series) have keyed the Thunder offence so far in the playoffs, Allison said it was the unsung heroes who really provided the ammunition to shoot down the Ice Dogs’ hopes of back-to-back titles.
“Guys like John Kocis and Kurt Hogard have been terrific on the blueline,” he raved. “Then there’s Rob Scales. We released him [Jan. 10] and he didn’t pout, he didn’t sulk, and now he’s back.
“These guys took on the challenge and got better.”
The sweep of Dryden was even more impressive considering the absence of captain Josh Baxter (knee), and defencemen David Lloyd (shoulder) and Clayton Windigo (shoulder) from the line-up.
Baxter and Windigo missed the entire series, while Lloyd hurt himself during Game 1 here and had to sit out the last three games.
“Lloyd’s probably the closest to coming back,” said Allison. “Baxter is going to be a question mark throughout the playoffs and Windigo’s probably the farthest away.”
The Thunder’s list of casualties decreased by one after forward A.J. Tucker returned for Game 3 last Friday in Dryden after being out since Feb. 4 with a hairline fracture of his ankle.
“Tucker’s still not at 100 percent,” Allison admitted. “When you hurt your foot, you’re not able to ride the bike and get the cardio where you want. This is going to be an important week of practice for him.”
The Thunder caught a break in the first period of their 4-3 win on Friday when penalty troubles put the Ice Dogs down two men for 56 seconds.
They survived the first infraction, but Josh McAndrew forced a wraparound through the pads of goalie Ryan Comeau with two seconds left in the second one for his first goal of the series to give the Thunder the 1-0 lead at the 13:11 mark.
Kendall Enns tied it 1:29 later when he banked the puck in off Hogard’s skate, but the second period belonged to the visitors.
Chad Baldwin jumped on a loose puck in front and smacked it past Comeau at 1:47 to make it 2-1. They after a Jay Phillips shot block, Scales hit Webb in full stride with a breakaway pass just across centre.
Webb outwaited Comeau until the netminder was sprawled on the ice before flipping the puck over top of him.
Johnson delivered the backbreaker with 34 seconds left in the frame. He stripped a Dryden blueliner of the puck after Hogard’s pass was partially intercepted, then went to the outside of the Ice Dogs’ defence before wiring a backhander to the far side of Comeau.
The Ice Dogs made a game of it in the third as Enns sliced the lead to two at 1:01 with his second of the game on a 10-footer from the slot.
Desjarlais then tipped in an Enns’ blast from the point on the power play at 13:54 to bring the host Dryden crowd to life.
Jordy Watson had Dryden’s best chance to pull even, but he didn’t get everything he wanted on a shot from in tight and Thunder goalie Dan Hoehne knocked the off-speed floater to the corner.
With their backs to the wall, the Ice Dogs needed a quick start in Game 4 on Saturday night and got it as Tyler McDonald connected at the 5:00 mark of the first period for a 1-0 Dryden lead.
Johnson hoisted the Thunder upon his shoulders in the second, scoring at 4:54 and again with four seconds left in the period.
Drew Fisher and Kyle Prystupa each tallied their first goal of the series in the third before Desjarlais cut into the lead to 4-2 with 2:26 left in regulation time.
But Phillips ended the suspense—and Dryden’s season—with a empty-netter for his first goal of the playoffs at 19:05.