DRYDEN, Ont. – Kris Hamlin tallied once and added an assist while netminder Landon Pavlisin finished with a 38-save effort as the Dryden GM Ice Dogs (SIJHL) defeated the Wellington Dukes (OJHL) 4-1 Tuesday evening in Game 2 of the Dudley-Hewitt Cup Central Canadian Jr. A Championship at Dryden Memorial Arena.
A fast-paced first frame saw Dryden open the scoring with six and a half minutes left in the period during a man advantage as Woody Galbraith darted out from behind the net, spun and stuffed his chance past Wellington netminder Jonah Capriotti.
The SIJHL Bill Salonen Cup champion GM Ice Dogs pressed the pace the first half of the middle stanza, but they could not solve Capriotti.
Regrouping the Buckland Trophy-winning Dukes got their legs later in the session and started to generate some quality chances of their own only to be stymied by the efforts of Dryden goalkeeper Pavlisin to keep it at 1-0 after 40 minutes.
The DHC hosts were quick to extend their lead in the third period as SIJHL MVP Jacen Bracko drove hard to the net and left it for Eric Stout, who made no mistake wiring his attempt between the arm and body at the Wellington goalkeeper to make it 2-0 Dryden 60 seconds into the frame.
Adding to their cushion five minutes later Hamlin carried the puck in on a two-on-one and calmly waited before wiring a quick shot into the top right corner to put the GM Ice Dogs up by three.
The Dukes would finally solve Pavlisin with 11:02 to go as Josh Supryka worked it across to Geoff Lawson at the left point, who skated in and fired an attempt towards the net that was neatly redirected by Daniel Panetta as he was parked in front of the Dryden net.
The visitors would get no closer however as the GM Ice Dogs tightened up defensively before Connor Mowatt iced it with a long-range empty-netter just before time expired to secure the victory.
Burke Johnstone dished out a pair of assists for Dryden.
Capriotti faced 32 shots in defeat.
Earning player of the game honours were Pavlisin and Dukes’ defender Lawson.
Round robin play resumes Wednesday as Wellington (0-1) meets the Thunder Bay North Stars (SIJHL) (1-0) at 2:30 p.m. CT/3:30 p.m. ET) while Dryden (1-0) takes on the Cochrane Crunch (NOJHL) (0-1) at 7:30 p.m. CT/8:30 p.m. ET.
Both games will be streamed online via HockeyTV.com.
Photo credit: Tim Bates DHC/OJHL Images
SCHEDULE: (All starts Central Standard Time)
Tuesday, May 1
Thunder Bay 4 Dryden 0
Dryden 4 Wellington 1
Wednesday, May 2
Wellington vs. Thunder Bay 2:30 p.m.
Dryden vs. Cochrane 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, May 3
Cochrane vs. Wellington 2:30 p.m.
Thunder Bay vs. Dryden 7:30 p.m.
Friday, May 4
Semifinal: 3rd Round Robin vs. 2nd Round Robin 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 5
Final: Semifinal Winner vs. 1st Round Robin 7:30 p.m.
