FORT FRANCES Sports – A total of 10 Superior International Junior League alumni, including five former Fort Frances Lakers were on the roster of the Williston State College Tetons who captured the National Junior Collegiate Athletic Association men’s hockey crown over the weekend.

SIJHL Alumni help capture NJCAA Crown

Led by ex-Lakers’ netminder Tyler Ampe, who was named to the all-tournament team and made 24 stops in the championship game helping Williston edged the Monroe College Tribunes 3-2 in the final of the NJCAA tournament staged in Rochester, N.Y. It marked the first national championship for the North Dakota-based school.

Another former SIJHLer in Dwight Lee scored the game-tying goal and then set-up the winner to go along with an assist on the first WSC marker for a three-point night. He too earned himself a spot on the all-tournament squad along with Ampe.

Former Dryden Ice Dogs defenceman Ian Schachte also had a helper in the final.

Other ex-Fort Frances players on the Tetons roster include Steve Terry, Henry Gutierrez and Ryan Presthus.

Also featured in the Williston State line-up were fellow SIJHL alums in Chasen Dobranski (Sioux Lookout), Lee Melde (Duluth), Dario Torres (Iron Range) and Chris Stokke (Iron Range).

Meanwhile, a pair of former Fort Frances players in ex-captain Tyler Stevenson and fellow forward Blake Boaz, have helped the Concordia Thunder advance to the semifinals in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference.

In regular season play Stevenson finished third on the squad in scoring with 24 points in 28 games, including 10 goals.

Boaz meanwhile, a former SIJHL best defensive forward award recipient, picked up 13 points in 27 outings on two tallies and 11 assists.

Both players have two points to date in the playoffs.

Concordia will now meet the top ranked Northern Alberta Institute of Technology Ooks in a best-of-five semifinal that gets underway Friday.  

NAIT also boasts a couple of SIJHL alumnus in Riley Marsh (Thunder Bay) and Clinton Senkow (Dryden) on their roster.