THUNDER BAY – The Thunder Bay North Stars are moving on.
The fourth-seeded Stars erupted for four first-period goals on Thursday night and clinched their opening-round Superior International Junior Hockey League playoff series with a 6-0 win over the defending champions Red Lake Miners.
The home team, playing in front of 562 fans at Fort William Gardens, were backstopped by a 50-save, Game 5 shutout performance by goaltender Keenan Marks, playing his second straight match of the best-of-seven series after backing up Conner Lemieux in Games 1 and 2.
“It was awesome. That was a good game,” said Marks, stepping in for the injured Lemieux, and now the North Stars await their second-round opponent,which in all likelihood will be either No. 1 Kam River or No. 2 Dryden.
Thunder Bay coach Rob DeGagne, who told his troops it’s only going to get harder from here on in, said the North Stars will take on any-and-all comers, having to beat the best to win a championship.
It doesn’t really matter what order it happens, he said.
“We have no control over it, so we don’t care,” DeGagne said. “We’ve got to beat both of them, probably, to win, so whether it’s the Walleye, whether it’s Dryden that we play first, chances are those are the teams we’ll have to beat going down the stretch anyway.”
It was the North Stars offense that shone in the first in the clincher, against a team they beat 10 times in 12 meetings this season, including the playoffs.
Edison Weeks, Nolan Desjardins, E.J. Paddington and Nikolas Campbell each lit the lamp in a penalty-free opening period, the North Stars getting on the board just 1:29 in when Weeks snuck the puck past Jack Osmond after Dimitri Trahiotis won a tough battle in the corner and fed the puck out front. By the time Nikolas Campbell buried a Colby Feist past at 14:29 of the first, the Stars were up 4-0 and well on their way to a series win.
“That calms everything down,” said Marks, who had one shutout in 26 regular-season appearances as an SIJHL freshman.
Despite being outshot 22-10 in the second, it was Thunder Bay who emerged with the lone tally, extending their lead to five with 2:26 to play in the period, Mason Wesley ripping a shot past Jack Osmond.
Marks stood tall throughout the second, denying the Miners on all three power play opportunities in the period, helped by his ever present blue-line, who cleared the puck out of danger on more than one occasion.
“Keenan was outstanding,” DeGagne said. “He stopped everything. His rebound control was good as the game went on. I thought he was maybe a little bit nervous in the first, putting some pucks back out in front of him.
“But boy he played good in the second and third period.”
Trahiotis rounded out the scoring on the power play late in the third.
The second round is expected to begin next Thursday.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Thunder Bay, Weeks (Trahiotis) 1:29. 2. Thunder Bay, Desjardins 3 (Wesley) 6:22. 3. Thunder Bay, Paddington, (Murdoch, Pearson) 7:10. 4. Thunder Bay, Campbell (Feist) 14:29. Penalties: None.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 5. Thunder Bay, Wesley (unassisted) 17:34. Penalties: Winsor TB (interference) 1:31, Bertrand TB (slashing) 9:01, Woodard RLM (slashing) 11:25, Paddington TB (head contact, misconduct) 18:51,
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 6. Thunder Bay, Trahiotis (Halushak) 14:50. Penalties: Schechtel RLM (unsportsmanlike conduct) 1:22. Trahiotis TB (slashing) 5:55, MacPherson RLM (high sticking) 8:45, Wesley TB (cross checking) 9:56, Glousher TB (instigating, fighting major, game misconduct), Corbett RLM (fighting major, game misconducts) 12:33, Pearson TB (charging) 16:23, Woodard RLM (tripping) 17:25.
GAME DATA – SOG – Red Lake 14-22-14-50, Thunder Bay 16-10-15-41; Power plays (goals-chances) – Red Lake (0-7), Thunder Bay (1-4); Goaltenders – Red Lake: Jack Osmond, Thunder Bay: Keenan Marks. A: 562.
