North Stars down Dryden in crucial road contest

DRYDEN – Just eight points separates first from fifth in the Superior International Junior Hockey League standings.

With about 10 games to go for each team, every point matters.

The Thunder Bay North Stars grabbed a couple of big ones on the road on Saturday night, downing the host Dryden Ice Dogs 4-1.

Four different goal scorers lit the lamp behind Dryden netminder Ewan Soutar.

Cohen Tangedal got things going at 9:51 of the first, and while the Ice Dogs Adam Zimmerman evened the score less than three minutes later, it was all Thunder Bay from there, at least on the score sheet.

Dimitri Trahiotis restored the North Stars one-goal lead with less than two minutes to play in the first, his 10^th of the season, and Edison Weeks and Christian Rapp scored in the second and third periods, respectively, delivering the win for Thunder Bay.

Keenan Marks made 28 saves to pick up with victory between the pipes for the North Stars. Soutar was beaten four times on 30 shots.

The third-place Stars improved to 25-10-4 on the season, while Dryden slipped to 25-14-12, good for solo fourth place.

Red Lake 6, Fort Frances 2: Blake Hiltermann scored twice to lead the Miners to a win, gaining a pair of points on the Ice Dogs, the next closest team in the standings. Matthew MacPherson, Justin Gelderland and Preston Tauter each had a goal and an assist for Red Lake (24-12-2). Remington Richardson and Magnus Pearson scored for Fort Frances (8-25-5).

Wisconsin 6, Kenora 2: Dillon Phillips had a pair of goals and added an assist to lead the Lumberjacks (11-18-5) past the last place expansion Islanders. Brayden Mackay had a goal and helper for Kenora (2-31-1).

Kam River 3, Sioux Lookout 2: The Fighting Walleye (28-9-1) climbed to within a point of the league-leading Bombers. Ryan Daponte and Liam Bell scored third period goals to erase host Sioux Lookout’s 2-1 lead after 40 minutes. Brydon Bell had the Fighting Walleye’s other goal, tying the game 1-1 at 10:50 of the first. Owen Riffel, the league’s top goal-scorer, and Owen Cotter replied for the Bombers (27-7-4).