Belisle scores two more, North Stars win second straight on home ice

With two games left and facing long odds to move up in the Superior International Junior Hockey League standings, the Thunder Bay North Stars are all about creating a winning attitude as the post-season arrives.

It looks like they may have started to hit their stride.

After struggling in February, the North Stars (27-23-4) are making the most of their four-game home-stand to close out 2014-15, scoring their second straight victory on Wednesday nght, riding a four-goal second period to a 5-1 triumph over the visiting English River Miners (10-38-5).

For a second straight outing it was freshman Bradley Belisle who proved to be the difference-maker. The 17-year-old Thunder Bay native, nominated for the SIJHL rookie-of-the-year award, scored twice and added an assist to pace the Stars.

It was the second consecutive three-point effort for Belisle, a 14th-round pick of the USHL’s Fargo Force who has already committed to playing at Bemidji State in 2017.

Locked in a heated battle for positioning, individual honours don’t mean much to Belisle at this stage of the game.

But they do mean something.

“This year is a stepping stone for me, so to win (rookie of the year) would definitely be an achievement for me,” said Belisle, a 44-goal scorer in his final season with the Midget Kings a year ago.

“It was definitely something I had my eye on at the start of the year and I’ve worked toward it all year. My teammates have helped me out tremendously.”

Belisle, also selected by the Ontario Hockey League’s Sarnia Sting, said the team would love to finish the regular season strong.

“We’re on a hot streak right now and we’re coming together as a team. We’re getting guys back and that’s helping us out. We’re having good practice and it’s transferring into our games,” he said.

It was clearly evident in the second period against the last-place, but often pesky Miners.

Tied 1-1 after 20 minutes, the Stars retook the lead early in the middle frame when Mathias Gardiman launched a wrist shot that English River puck-stopper Greg Harney, a candidate for SIJHL goalie of the year, got his glove on but couldn’t stop from trickling over the goal line.

Twenty-six seconds later Cashen Tighe doubled the lead.

Avery Siau potted his 10th of the season to match Tighe at the 11:09 mark and Belisle connected on his second of the night at 16:46 to make it 5-1.

It’s all about the effort at this stage, said North Stars coach Jeremy Adduono, who praised the first-period heroics of goaltender Nathaniel Dupuis, who stopped 14 shots in the opening stanza, making a statement in what potentially could be an opening round playoff preview  from two teams looking to play their way into the SIJHL semifinals.

“Right now, it’s obviously coming down to the last few games here and we kind of saw it coming the way the year is going,” Adduono said.

“As of right now it is mathematically possible for us to grab that third spot.”

The key is to find consistency.

“Tonight I thought we got off to a slow start and we made some mid-game adjustments and came out with another victory.”

Ryker Moreau had the lone goal of the game for English River, burying a pass from the point behind Dupuis on the power play late in the first, a period that saw Thunder Bay successfully kill off an extended two-man disadvantage.

The North Stars and league-leading Fort Frances Lakers tangle at Fort William Gardens on Wednesday night.