SPOONER, Wisc. -- Wayne Gretzky, Cam Neely, Maurice Richard and Cody Bruchkowski have something in common now.
All four players have managed to score 50 goals in 50 games or fewer -- albeit the first three did it at the National Hockey League level.
Still, it was a pretty special accomplisment for the Superior International Junior Hockey League'a leading goal scorer, who beat Wisconsin's Hunter Adams in the second period on Saturday night, becoming just the fifth player in league history to hit the 50-goal mark.
Bruchkowski, who joined the Thunder Bay North Stars earlier this season, accomplished the feat in 44 games.
Kory McEwan, Bryce Young, Chris Bryson and Braedin Allkins are the others to hit the plateau in the SIJHL's 19-year history.
For good measure, Bruchkowski, 20, added an empty netter in the North Stars 7-3 win over the Wisconsin Lumberjacks, adding a helper on Alex Erwin's go-ahead goal at 13:04 of the second.
The Lumberjacks had the only two goals of the first, Austin Cardinal and Ryan Green beating Noerh Stars goaltender Dylan Kosik, who wound up stopping 40 shots by the time the final buzzer sounded.
The second belonged to the North Stars, In addition to Erwin and Bruchkowski, Joel Willan and Jacob Anttone also scored for the visitors,
Wisconsin got one back midway through the third, Dalton Garcia connecting for his 17th of the season. But it was all Thunder Bay from there on in.
Nikolas Campbell, Bruchkowski and Michael Vecchio wrapped up the scoring for the North Stars, who snapped a two-game losing streak.
The win helped the North Stars (30-15-3) climb two points closer to front-running Red Lake (30-15-5), who lost 2-1 to Dryden. The Stars have two games in hand.
