Joey Payeur
Brandon Bodnar leads the SIJHL in two major statistical categories—and he’s a back-up goalie.
Such is the terrific netminding depth of the Fort Frances Lakers, who got 21 saves from their rookie goalie in blanking the English River Miners 4-0 on Saturday night at the Ice For Kids Arena.
“He’s been awesome,” Lakers’ forward Jason Wilson said about the 18-year-old Fort Frances native.
Despite playing behind starter Pierce Dushenko, Bodnar still is tops in the SIJHL in GAA (1.76) and save percentage (.939) while posting an 11-3 record and two shutouts (third in the league).
“In practice every day, he takes it seriously and everyone here wants to make sure they’re playing hard for both goalies,” Wilson added.
“It doesn’t matter which one of them plays.”
The Lakers (32-6-0-1) extended their SIJHL winning streak to seven games thanks to a pair of power-play goals from Cole Tymkin, who leads the league in rookie scoring with 32 points.
Ryley Bosman added another, as did league scoring leader Dylan Robertson (53 points), whose short-handed marker made it 3-0 late in the first period.
Korlan Vader took the loss in goal for the Miners (10-28-1-4).
“We worked hard but we came out slow,” noted Miners’ head coach and general manager Derek Sweet-Coulter, whose team hasn’t beat the Lakers yet in eight tries this season.
“We battled hard and proved we could be competitive, but we just couldn’t score,” he remarked.
On Friday night, A.J. Rupert had two goals and a pair of assists to lead the Lakers to a 7-4 triumph over the Minnesota Iron Rangers down in Hoyt Lakes.
Robertson also netted two goals while Jack Bernie (shorthanded), Bosman, and Brandon Zajicek had the other markers.
Pierce Dushenko chalked up 23 saves to earn the win
Alex Arnold, John Cuni, Dayton Honkanen, and Gus Karkinen replied for the Iron Rangers (14-21-2-2).
Meanwhile, the Lakers took another blow to their defensive corps with the loss of Roshen Jaswal to a sprained wrist for at least the next two weeks.
Jaswal suffered the injury before the “SIJHL Showcase” in Hoyt Lakes two weeks ago, but tried to play through it before being sidelined before this weekend’s games.
He joins fellow blueliner Robbie Bonthron (jaw) and forward Dylan Kooner (scapula) on the shelf.
The Lakers next will host the Thunder Bay North Stars (22-19-0-3) this Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
