Fishermen destroy Ice Dawgs in Game 1 of CRJHL final

The Selkirk Fishermen took it to the Arborg Ice Dawgs in Game 1 of the Capital Region Junior Hockey League best-of-seven final series on Sunday.

After surrendering a goal early in the second period to Arborg’s Austin Adair, Selkirk flashed its brilliance by scoring six unanswered goals in a 6-1 victory.

The Fishermen’s Kyle Folhoffer, Travis Spratt, and Jordan Donald scored second-period goals and then Reece Tessier, Josh Poponick and Donald tallied in the third.

Tessier and Donald each had three points in the game.

It was a great start to the series for Selkirk.

“It was definitely a good win,” Donald said. “I think we came out in the first period a little shaky, a little nervous, but once we got into the flow of things…and the nerves under our belts we kind of picked it up in the second and third and ended up playing pretty good.”

Brendon Hocaluk was very good in goal, making 26 saves for the win.

The Fishermen did a great job shutting down Jack Einarson, the league’s leading scorer during the regular season.

“That was huge,” Donald said. “We wanted to get checks in on him as much as we could to let him feel our presence. We shut his whole line down, too, which was great.”

Selkirk has been outstanding defensively during the playoffs, allowing just four goals in five games.

“We’re a very good defensive team when we want to be,” Donald said. “It’s just making sure that we’re bearing down and picking up the loose pucks and taking the body, working hard, and we should do well.”

Game 2 of the series is set for Thursday (8 p.m.) in Arborg while Game 3 is scheduled for Saturday (7:30 p.m.) in Selkirk.

Game 4 of the series returns to Arborg on Sunday (5 p.m.).