THUNDER BAY – All good things must come to an end. Bad things too.
The Thunder Bay North Stars, riding a seven-game winning streak on Friday night, took on a Kenora Islanders team that had dropped 28 in a row.
On paper, the Stars should have rolled to victory, but games aren’t played on paper, or so the saying goes.
Kenora raced out to a 2-0 lead and held on to down the host North Stars 3-1, picking up just their second win of their expansion season.
Braden Swampy notched the lone goal of the opening period and Aaron Bertschinger doubled the led with 3:19 to go in the second.
Thunder Bay fought back, E.J. Paddington cutting the lead in half with six seconds to go in the middle frame, but Lazarus Constant added an insurance marker into the empty net at the 19:14 mark of the third and the Islanders slide was over.
Credit goaltender Matthew Stephens, who made 44 saves to pick up the win.
Keenan Marks gave up two goals on 15 shots and was tagged with the loss.
It was the first of three games the two teams will play this weekend at Fort William Gardens.
Game 2 of the series goes Saturday night at 7:30 p.m., with Game 3 scheduled for Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m.
Fort Frances 5, Wisconsin 4: The Lakers earned just their seventh win of 2023-24, edging the Lumberjacks on the road. Brady Krentz scored a pair for the Lakers, who scored three times in the third to shake off a 3-2 Lumberjacks lead.
