The first weekend of 2016 was not kind to the Cross Lake Islanders and Norway House North Stars as the Keystone Junior Hockey League resumed, with both Northern Manitoba squads losing back-to-back games at home.
The Islanders were on the ice against the St. Malo Warriors on the second day of the new year and started off on the right foot with a goal by Braedan Boschman three-quarters of the way through the first period, which gave them a 1-0 intermission lead. Robert Guimond and Jessi Freund teamed up on consecutive goals to give the Warriors a 2-1 lead in the first half of the second period. Garrison Garrioch tied it up for the Islanders before Jared Magne put St. Malo ahead again. Jameson Scott of Cross Lake tied it up once more at 3-3 before a goal by Brady Allan restored the Warriors’ lead.
Scott evened the score again 11 seconds into the third period and Kenley Monias gave the Islanders a 5-4 lead before St. Malo scored four times in the final 3:48, with Guimond, Ben Olson, Riley Hunter and Kyle Fortin tallying for the Warriors’ 8-5 win.
Shots in the game were 55-48 for the Warriors, with Kris Wood-Ross making 47 saves in the Islanders’ net and Jordan Taylor stopping 43 shots to get the win for St. Malo.
The Peguis Juniors were in town the following day and scored the last five goals of the game in the third period to record a 7-4 win over Cross Lake.
Waylon Neault had his third and fourth goals of the game for the Juniors in the last 12 minutes of the game, while Joseph Sutherland also had a pair and Harold Linklater scored once. Scott had given the Islanders a 4-2 lead with 13:36 to play after Kenley Monias scored twice in the second period and Keith Monias once to make it 3-2 for Cross Lake after 40 minutes. Neault had two goals for Peguis in the first period. Shots were 65-54 in favour of the Juniors, who got 50 saves from Keifer Tacan in the win, while Troy Monias stopped 58 in a losing effort for the Islanders.
The same two teams were also in Norway House on the weekend. The Juniors beat the North Stars 19-4 Jan. 2 and the Warriors thumped them 14-1 the following day. Jeremy Folster, Gregory Paupanekis, Harley Muminawatum and Corbin Tait had the North Stars’ goals against the Juniors while Elvis Balfour Jr. had the lone goal against St. Malo.
The Islanders remain third in the KJHL North Division with a 12-11 record. The North Stars are fifth and last in the division with one win in 22 games.
