Staff
If things continue the way they are going in the first round of the SIJHL playoffs, Wyatt Cota and Kris Kellaway won’t be in much of a sharing mood late next week.
The forwards from the Fort Frances Lakers and Thunder Bay North Stars, respectively, yesterday were named co-recipients of the league’s best defensive forward award.
Jason Reynolds (Minnesota Iron Rangers) was the other finalist in the category.
Cota, a 20-year-old native of Kingston, led the Lakers in scoring this season with 68 points in 52 games while helping the team surrender the fewest goals in the league.
The last Laker to capture the award was Blake Boaz in 2011.
Kellaway, meanwhile, had four short-handed goals to end up second in the SIJHL in that department.
He totalled 38 points in 44 games.
It marked the third time in the league’s 14-year history that the award was shared by two players.
The first-place Lakers and fourth-place North Stars appear to be on a playoff collision course.
Thunder Bay leads its first-round, best-of-five series with the last-place English River Miners 2-0 after winning 3-1 on Tuesday and then 10-5 last night (both on home ice).
The series now switches to Ear Falls, with Game 3 set for tomorrow night.
Game 4 (if necessary) is set for Saturday in Ear Falls.
The Lakers, who finished atop the standings with a 43-11-1-1 record, will play the winner of that series.
The best-of-seven semi-final likely will begin later next week.
The other semi-final series will pit the second-place Iron Rangers against the third-place Dryden GM Ice Dogs.
