THUNDER BAY – The Red Lake Miners hit Fort William Gardens on Friday night ranked fourth in the nation.
The Thunder Bay North Stars, who started the season ranked 12th, only to fall out of the Canadian Junior Hockey League rankings, clearly didn’t put much stock in either fact.
The North Stars scored five unanswered goals in the second and third to break open a 3-3 tie, downing the Miners 8-3 to open their two-game set.
Cody Bruchkowski was the difference maker for Thunder Bay, scoring a hat trick and collecting a pair of assists for a five-point night. Linemate Jacob Anttonen also had a big night, scoring once and adding a trio of helpers.
It was the fourth straight win for Thunder Bay (6-1-0) and the first in six outings in 2019-20 for Red Lake (5-1-0).
Bruchkowski opened the scoring 71 seconds into the game, beating Miners starter Zach Willims.
Rajvir Sangha and Jordan Baranesky scored back-to-back tallies to give Red Lake a 2-1 lead with 4:37 to go in the period, but Evan Nicholas took the wind out the Miners sails, scoring with one second to go in the period, his second goal in as many outings.
Anttonen gave the North Stars their first lead of the night 1:30 into the second , but Baranesky’s second of the night and second of the season evened things again just past the five-minute mark.
It was all Thunder Bay from there.
Bruchkowski, Joel Willan, Ben Erwin and Nikolas Campbell also scored for Thunder Bay in support of goaltender Jordan Smith, who allowed three goals on 30 shots.
Willms was lifted early in the third, after giving up his sixth goal of the night on just 24 shots. Samuel Gendron took over, allowing the final two North Stars goals on seven shots.
The two teams meet again on Saturday night.