OLIVER PAIPOONGE – The rust is slowly starting to shake off the Thunder Bay North Stars game.
It's still a work in progress, said forward Nikolas Campbell, who looked every bit the star forward the team is hoping he'll turn into. On Saturday night hr notched his third goal in two games to lead the two-time defending champion Thunder Bay North Stars to a weekend sweep with a 4-2 win over the expansion Kam River Fighting Walleye to start the eight-game Teleco Cup 2-0.
“They were two huge wins for us, you know,” said Campbell, who scored 24 goals and added an equal number of assists in 52 games for the Stars in his COVID-19-shortened 2019-20 rookie campaign.
“We wanted to come in here and show that we're still a good team and we're going to compete in this league.”
The 18-year-old, who says his own stat line doesn't matter, is in for an expanded role as a sophomore, logging more ice time and being counted on to pile up the points on a team that lost 58-goal scorer Cody Bruchkowski and Jacob Brown, the No. 2 scorer in the league last season with 34.
“It's a good feeling,” he said. “I want to help the team any way I can to win, and hopefully I'm going to do thatthis year.”
So far, so good.
After scoring twice in Friday nights pre-season opener, he evened the score with just three seconds to go in the first, just 43 seconds after Kam River's Trenton Morriseau stuffed the puck past Thunder Bay starter Jacob Stone.
Campbell, who said he started getting leg cramps late in the contest, said he saw a hole, aimed and fired.
“I just got the puck from the goalie and then I stayed out, saw some open net, shot up top and hoped for the best. I guess it went in,” he said.
The Stars coaching staff know what they have in Campbell, and had a pretty good idea what newly acquired Rajvir Sangha would bring to the blue-line.
Sangha, who started the season in the British Columbia Junior Hockey League, spent last season with the Red Lake Miners and delivered a goal and an assist on Saturday night.
It was a great start to his North Stars career for the Calgary native, who scored six times in 44 games last season, one in which he and the Miners dropped the Bill Salonen Cup final to Thunder Bay.
“Last year it was a spirited rivalry, one-two. I had a lot of respect for their coaching staff and that was a big part of coming over here. They have a big tradition of winning. That's what it's about for me, to win a national championship and try to be the best in the country.”
Sangha said the pre-season is a chance for players to start to gel together on the ice.
“Obviously there's going to be a few hiccups down the road, but definitely it's a pro team here with pro coaches .. and going forward we're going to be really good.
Unlike Friday night, when they opened a 5-0 lead and hung on for a 5-4 win, it was the Stars who twice found themselves trailing.
Tied 1-1 after one, forward Hayden Cattani edged the Fighting Walleye in front 3:24 into the second. Sangha tied it four minutes later.
Leeam Tivers vaulted the North Stars in front at 7:24 of the third, pouncing on Thomas Young's rebound rattling around Kam River goaltender Eric Vanska's crease. Hunter Foreshew sealed it with an empty netter in the final minute of the third.
“I thought we played right with them. Obviously they executed a little better than us for a while. And that's going to be true for a while. They've played together, most of these guys. They're the defending champs and the top dogs in town. We know that,” said Fighting Walleye coach Matt Valley.
“We're using that underdog story to show there's a little bit of a chip on our shoulder and we want to be the big dogs. We've got a lot of work to do, but I'm very happy with a lot of guys' effort and a lot of guys' compete level.”
Game 3 goes next Friday. All games are being played at the NorWest Arena.
Star gazing: Former Thunder Bay forward Keighan Gerrie will play this season with Nanaimo of the BCHL. He played last season with the USHL's Waterloo Blackhawks.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Kam River, Morriseau (Lang, Mercredi) 19:14. 2. Thunder Bay, Campbell (Sangha, Belluz) 19:57. Penalties: Halcrow KR, A. Cardinal TB (roughing) 5:04, Cattani KR (slashing), Meloche TB (body contact) 10:10, Young TB (body contact) 10:54, Halcrow KR, Campbell TB (unsportsmanlike conduct) 17:11, Pitawanakwat KR (interference) 19:37, Campbell TB (misconduct) 19:57.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 3. Kam River, Cattani (Fortier, Morrow) 3:24. 4. Thunder Bay, Sangha (Anttonen) 7:32. 5. Thunder Bay, Tivers (R. Cardinal, Young) 13:01 pp. Penalties: A. Cardinal TB (slashing) 5:09, Fortier KR (slashing) 6:14, Leishman TB (body contact) 7:41, A. Cardinal TB (cross checking) 9:03, Tyska KR (tripping) 11:26, Fortier KR (body contact) 13:13, Sangha TB (unsportsmanlike conduct, misconduct), Ralph KR (body contact, roughing, misconduct, game misconduct) 17:52, Chisholm KR (cross checking) 18:30.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 6. Thunder Bay, Foreshew (unassisted) 19:49 en. Penalties: Krupp TB (body contact) 1:28, Anttonen TB (high sticking) 3:04, Couvier KR (body contact) 5:34, Pitawanakwat KR (hooking) 7:18, Belluz TB (holding) 15:42, Young TB (cross checking), Couvier KR (body contact) 18:30.
GAME DATA – SOG – Kam River 6-10-10-26, Thunder Bay 7-10-10-27; Power plays (goals-chances) – Kam River (0-7), Thunder Bay (2-8); Goaltenders – Kam River: Eric Vanska, Thunder Bay: Jacob Stone, Seth McKay (11:26, second) A: 50.
