Comeback win

Parity is in play.

The Thunder Bay North Stars, long used to waltzing through the Superior Interntional Junior Hockey League season, have competiton in 2010-11 – and plenty of it.

Leading the charge to dethrone the defending champion Stars are the Fort Frances Lakers. On Friday night they couldn’t quite manage it, falling victim to Colten Brule’s winner in the final minute of regulation, dropping a controversial 3-2 decision on a goal most in the building thought was offside.

The victory vaulted the Stars (19-11-1) into a second-place tie with the Lakers (19-9-1)

Winning doesn’t come as easy as it used to, said North Stars coach Todd Howarth.

“The top four teams are really, really close. Duluth’s coming too and Sioux Lookout’s in the game all the time,” Howarth said.

At the helm of a team that’s been to the league final seven straight years, Howarth’s Stars haven’t had a typical year, despite their lofty perch in the standings.

After winning their first 10 games to start the season, off-ice problems got the better of the team, leading to a stretch where they lost seven of eight.

It forced Howarth to do some early-season tinkering, brining in the likes of Brule, Daniel Franks and Paul Zysko, a hometown kid who spent last year with the Green Bay Gamblers of the North American Hockey League.

Though not done tweaking his lineup by any stretch of the imagination – he’s got an unnamed defenceman already lined up – Howarth said he thinks the Stars have turned the corner and put the bad stuff behind them.

“We’ve had a lot of bad luck in the last little while. I think we’ve outplayed teams lots in the last little while and just haven’t been rewarded. We’re having problems scoring goals and we finally got some tonight and it was a pretty good effort.”

On Friday night it was essentially a case of fire enough pucks on the net and something’s bound to find the twine.

“That’s essentially been our forte forever,” Howarth said. “Championships are won in the trenches, and I think we haven’t been doing the trench work as much as we should. We changed a few things this week to help the guys and they really bought into it.”

It was the Lakers who struck first, however, on a Morgan McNeill power play goal that came just 3:23 into the Fort William Gardens contest. The lead would hold until five minutes into the third, when Spencer Hogan knotted the score at one.

But the Lakers struck back immediately, when Blake Boaz beat Thunder Bay goalie Jay Pelletier 46 seconds later.

However with the Lakers down a man just past the midway point of the period, veteran Dan Usiski tied it on a goal-mouth scramble and it appeared the game was headed for overtime.

Not so, said Brule, who hammered home a pinpoint pass from Sam Dubinsky in the final minute of regulation to secure the two points for Thunder Bay.

“All I could keep thinking was just drive the net, drive the net and hopefully it got to me,” Brule said. “Zysko had the drive there, he just threw it over and I happened to be in the right spot and just tucked it in.

“We knew we were playing a strong game. The first 10 minutes were rough and probably a little iffy, but we just kept it going, playing our system, trusting it and everything just clicked in, just happened.”

The goal, on Fort Frances goalie Tyler Ampe, is one that probably shouldn’t have counted, said Lakers coach Wayne Strachan, still smarting from the defeat in a league where two points separates first from fourth.

“It was definitely offside. They guy was at least four feet off the line where he got the pass in our end. It’s unfortunate that the hockey game had to end like that, because it was a pretty good game ... To lose on a goal like that kind of gets to you,” Strachan said.

The two teams match up again on Saturday night. Game time is 7:30 at Fort William Gardens.

Star gazing: In an effort to draw more fans to Fort William Gardens, the North Stars won’t charge admission for children 12 years and younger for the rest of the season ... A portion of the proceeds from Saturday’s rematch will be donated to the George Jeffrey’s Children’s Centre. Friday night’s recipient was the Catholic Family Development Centre.

First period
Scoring: 1. Fort Frances McNeill 2 (Boaz, Nystedt) 3:23 pp. Penalties: Hamel TB (charging) 1:29, Katapaytuk FF (tripping) 12:02, Hady FF (interference) 16:02, Hamel TB (interference) 19:58.

Second period
Scoring: No scoring. Penalties: McFadden FF, Hamel TB (roughing) 2:10. Howarth TB (slashing) 8:28, Breukelman (slashing) 9:25, Hasbargen FF (interference) 11:55, Sinclair FF, Dubinsky TB (unsportsmanlike conduct) 15:05.

Third period
Scoring: 2. Thunder Bay Hogan 9 (Franks, Salokari) 5:16. 3. Fort Frances Boaz 5 (Stevenson, Jennrich) 6:02. 4. Fort William, Usiski (Dubinsky) 11:12 pp. 5. Thunder Bay, Brule 3 (Zysko) 19: 07. Penalties: Usiski (slashing) 7:46, Bench minor TB (too many men, served by Valley) 8:36, Caulfield FF (holding) 10:46, Cooper FF (unsportsmanlike conduct) 19:53.

Game Data – SOG – Fort Frances 9-7-7-23, Thunder Bay 9-16-11-36; Power plays (goals-assists) – Fort Frances (1-4), Thunder Bay (1-4); Goaltenders – Fort Frances: Tyler Ampe, Thunder Bay: Jay Pelletier; A: 200 (estimated).