The midget AA Thompson King Miners improved their nearly perfect season record to 19-1 at home Jan 11-12, defeating the visiting Cross Lake Islanders 11-7 and 9-3.
The King Miners established a stranglehold during the second period of the series opener, outscoring the Islanders 7-2 to lead 10-3 after 40 minutes. Four goals in the last eight minutes of the period by Cody Hale, Tazman Higgins, Nathan M’lot and Isiah Spence turned a 6-3 lead into a 10-3 advantage. Casper Stoker had the first goal of the middle frame for Thompson before Conroy Halcrow scored and Jonathan Saunders added his second goal of the game, both during a five-minute penalty to the Islanders.
Jonah Bradburn and Saunders had scored 24 seconds apart in the first period to give the King Miners a 2-0 lead before the Islanders tallied their first. Kale Mayor restored the two-goal advantage with 67 seconds left before the first intermission.
Dawson Bilawka had the only goal for Thompson in the third period, which saw the Islanders mount a comeback attempt by scoring four goals. Morgan McKay, Christian Ross and Dixon Thomas all finished the game with two goals each for Cross Lake, which also got a single from Julius Scribe.
Landon Hofer made 27 saves to get the win for Thompson, who outshot the Islanders 38-34, with Marcus Ross making 27 saves in a losing cause for Cross Lake.
The rematch on Saturday was a similarly lopsided affair, with Saunders recording a hat trick for Thompson, Bilawka scoring twice and Bradburn, Mayor, Curtis Shymanski and Stoker adding singles for the King Miners. Wilfred McLeod, Treyton Monias and Christian Ross had the goals for Cross Lake, who were outshot 42-29 and got 33 saves from Colby Moore, while Thompson’s Isaak Weenusk made 26 to pick up the win.
The King Miners have four more games to play in the regular season, in Flin Flon Jan. 26-27 and in Norway House and Cross Lake Feb. 2-3.
