Thunder dump Ice Dogs

Thunder head coach Dave Allison was not behind the bench last night in Dryden as he began serving a six-game suspension for his role in Tuesday night’s brawl with the Ice Dogs here.
Instead, Thunder GM Brent Tookenay had the reins as the Thunder cruised to an 8-2 win over the Ice Dogs to sweep the home-and-home series held on back-to-back nights.
The game, though shrouded with anticipation of another melee, was controlled by the Thunder. And just one fight occurred.
“The guys dug down and played the game the way it should be played—whistle to whistle and north to south,” Tookenay said afterwards.
“If we can play hockey like that, then this team is going to be a tough team to beat,” he added.
Dale Kaemingh also stepped in as the assistant coach last night as Greg Madill began serving a three-game suspension stemming from Tuesday night’s brawl that erupted after the final whistle.
The Ice Dogs, meanwhile, were without their head coach and trainer last night. Larry Wintoneak began serving a seven-game suspension while Kevin McCallum was handed a three-game sentence.
Both head coaches will be back in time for the playoffs, in which the Thunder and Ice Dogs will meet in the semi-finals.
Player-wise, the suspensions handed out after Tuesday’s brawl were minor.
Receiving one-game suspensions for their third fighting major of the game were Andrew Dault and Tyler Barker of the Thunder. Blaire Oversby and Sean Bassingthwaite of the Ice Dogs also received one-game suspensions.
The SIJHL initially had announced that Thunder Clayton Windigo was suspended for one game, but later rescinded it.
Windigo was in the line-up last night.
“More could have been done, but I took into consideration that the playoffs are coming up and I don’t want to hurt their hockey teams,” SIJHL commissioner, Harvey Fedell said yesterday, referring to the suspensions handed down by the league.
Last night’s win improved the second-place Thunder’s record to 28-12-2—but well behind the front-running Fort William First Nation North Stars (35-2-3).
“Everyone had the adrenaline flowing through them all night long. No one could sleep because everyone was ‘I can’t believe that happened’ [on Tuesday night],” said Thunder defenceman Kurt Hogard, who was wearing the ‘C’ for the second-straight game.
The game itself was a lopsided victory as the Thunder fired 42 shots while Dryden could only muster 19.
Steven Sus (Josh McAndrew/Hogard) and Aaron Boyer (McAndrew) gave the Thunder a 2-0 lead after the first period. Newcomer Greg Beller (Sus) then made it 3-0 in the second before Dryden got on the scoreboard.
Bellar, who is from Sleeman, played in his first game wearing a Thunder jersey as his season with the Lake of the Woods Bears (Baudette) came to end with a playoff loss to the Thief River Falls last Friday.
He lived up to the hype that had been swirling around him.
Sus (Riley Dudar/Beller) regained the Thunder’s three-goal lead with a tally late in the second.
After Dryden cut the lead to 4-2 in the third, Sus (Beller) got the hat trick before Beller notched his second goal of the game, assisted by Derek Fisher and Scott Bridgeman, to make it 6-2.
“He’s a good player,” Tookenay said of Beller. “We knew that all along, and as you can see from tonight he can perform. He’s a big kid and he’s got skill.”
The Dudar-Sus-Beller line ended up garnering 10 points on the night.
The Thunder rounded out the scoring with a pair of power play goals by McAndrew (unassisted) and Fisher (Dennis Morrison).
The Thunder next will focus their sights on the North Stars in a weekend series in Thunder Bay.
The Thunder’s next home action is slated for March 4-5 against the fourth-place K&A Variety Golden Hawks. Then their final regular-season game will come against Dryden on March 8 at the Ice for Kids Arena.