THUNDER BAY – The Thunder Bay North Stars nine-year Superior International Junior Hockey League championship drought is over.
Assistant captain Keighan Gerrie tallied twice in the third period on Saturday night to break open a one-goal contest and the North Stars captured their first Bill Salonen Cup title since 2010, downing the visiting Red Lake Miners 4-1 in front of a season-high crowd of 2,120 at Fort William Gardens.
Jayden Mrakic, with his first of the post-season, and Kyle Auger also scored for Thunder Bay, giving them their league-high sixth SIJHL championship.
“Ever since the start of the season, this is what we’ve been looking forward to,” said Gerrie, the playoff MVP who led the league in scoring with 102 points during the regular season.
“It’s just another step along the way. We’ve got the league championship and now we’re looking for the Dudley and then hopefully the RBC (Cup).”
The Dudley, of course, is the Dudley Hewitt Cup, the Ontario Junior A championship, which begins April 30 in Cochrane, Ont.
The Stars will be making a return trip to the tournament, having represented the league last year in Dryden as the SIJHL representative.
“They’re obviously also all really good teams,” Gerrie said, already looking ahead. “They won their leagues too, so we know it’s going to be hard, but if we stick to our game we feel like we can do a pretty good job there.”
Captain Ryan Mignault, whose diving pass set Gerrie free for a breakaway goal 65 seconds into the third, said winning the title on home ice is a much different feeling than losing it, like the Stars did last year at the hands of the Dryden Ice Dogs.
“It feels unbelievable,” he said. “You put so much work into it and it comes down to seven games at the end of the year and you’re putting everything out on the line for it. To get rewarded for all that work is an amazing feeling.”
Auger, who tied Gerrie with 102 points, becoming the first defenceman in SIJHL history to crack the century mark, with Queen’s We Are The Champions blasting in the background, said letting last year's title slip away hurt for a long time - but the pain is now gone.
“Obviously I’m happy to be on the other end. We never got to that third win last year, so we didn’t really get the nerves like we did today. But I thought we left it all out there and it feels awesome. I haven’t won my whole life, so it feels really good.”
The Stars, who dropped the series opener 6-1 on home ice, won four straight, evening the series in Game 2, sweeping the Miners earlier in the week on the road and capping a season that saw them ranked No. 2 in the country with Saturday’s 4-1 victory.
It could have been a lot worse for the Miners if it wasn’t for goaltender Zach Willims, who faced 49 shots, turning aside 45 of them – several in spectacular fashion.
Locked in a one-goal game, Jacob Brown hit the post on the backhand late in the first. Logan Mihalcin was stuffed after charging through a pair of Red Lake defenders and Jonathan Kilby was denied on a partial break.
The Miners best chance to even the score came early in the second when Liam Stalwick stepped out of the penalty box and broke free on North Stars goalie Brock Aiken, but to no avail.
Mrakic, who opened the scoring in the first two minutes of the game, had a stellar chance on another breakaway, but couldn’t lift the puck past Willms’ outstretched pad and it remained 2-1 through 40 minutes.
Gerrie scored quickly to open the third, then added his eighth of the playoffs five minutes later, cutting across the middle and backhanding it off the post behind Willms.
Stratton Pickett had the Miners lone goal, evening the score, using a screen to beat Aiken at 7:36 of the first.
North Stars coach Rob DeGagne said it was a great first step toward a national championship.
“You’ve got to win this one first, right? It means a lot to these kids. They had a spectacular year. They worked hard all year. They did everything we asked them to do. They’re young men, they make mistakes like everyone else, but boy oh boy they sure came to play.”
Red Lake was playing without regular-season MVP Bryce Young, out because of an injury.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Thunder Bay, Mrakic 1 (A.Erwin, Anttonen) 1:58. 2. Red Lake, Pickett (Gula, Lawrence) 7:36. 3. Thunder Bay, Auger (Gerrie, Brown) 12:28. Penalties: Stalwick RLM (cross checking) 19:39.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: None. Penalties: Venne RLM (cross checking) 3:58, Krawiec RLM (roughing) 5:18.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 4. Thunder Bay, Gerrie 7 (Mignault) 1:05. 5. Thunder Bay, Gerrie 8 (Brown, Mignault) 6:16. Penalties: Kilby TB (cross checking) 7:20, Bohnet RLM (cross checking), Jacobs RLM (cross checking) 9:42, Willan TB (slashing) 13:49, Tiringer RLM, Turbide TB (roughin) 19:46.
GAME DATA – SOG – Red Lake 8-9-11-28, Thunder Bay 18-16-15-49; Power plays (goals-chances) – Red Lake (0-2), Thunder Bay (0-4); Goaltenders – Red Lake: Zach Willms, Thunder Bay: Brock Aiken; A: 2,120.
