All good things must come to an end.
On Saturday night the Dryden Ice Dogs scored a pair of unanswered goals to snap a 1-1 tie and went on to down the Thunder Bay North Stars 4-1 at Fort William Gardens, ending the host team’s torrid nine-game winning streak.
“It’s a good feeling, winning nine straight. It’s too bad we just couldn’t keep it going,” said veteran Thunder Bay defenceman Aaron Wesley-Chisel. “We learned a lot, maybe we’ll go for another run.”
Thunder Bay coach Jeremy Adduono said he’s proud of the way his team adjusted after a roller-coaster first half, agreeing with Wesley-Chisel that the team knows more about itself now than it did when 2015 came to a close.
“I think the biggest thing is the 23 guys we’ve got in the room proved to themselves that we can actually compete with everybody. We’ve beaten everybody in the league right now. We’ve won in every building in the league now and we’ve pretty much been in every game we’ve played since we came back, minus the one game in Dryden,” Adduono said.
The biggest lesson learned is the team has to play hard every night.
“We’ve got to know that in order to get the two points, we’re going to have to work to get it,” Adduono said.
Unfortunately, after a scoreless first period, the North Stars struggled a bit with their game, letting the Ice Dogs control the play and concoct the best scoring chances.
“In tonight’s loss, I guess we were a little bit flat, didn’t get enough shots on net. They outworked us,” Wesley-Chisel said.
Tanner Watt had a pair of goals for the Ice Dogs, pouncing on a rare rebound off the pads of North Stars goalie Riley Corbin late in the second and picking a puck out of the air early in the third and knocking it past Riley Corbin, who faced 30 shots in the loss.
Troy Williams had Dryden’s first goal, kicking off the scoring at the 6:17 mark of the second. Nic Noseworth also replied for the visitors on a 2-on-1, taking advantage of Justin Muir’s giveaway at the North Stars blue-line.
Nicholas Nigro, who leads the Superior International Junior Hockey League with 23 tallies, had the lone goal for Thunder Bay.
Dryden Coach Kurt Walsten agreed with Wesley-Chisel’s assessment.
“I think today we outworked them and we’ll take the two points,” Walsten said.
Despite having almost half as many shot as the 55 they poured on the North Star net in Friday’s loss, Walsten was happy with his team’s performance.
“Sometimes shots are misleading. Corbin, in my opinion, is one of the best goalies in the league and when you’re shooting pucks from the blue-line without traffic, he’s going to stop them,” Walsten said. “Sometimes the quality of your shots are better … Today I felt we put more pressure on him, with 30, than we did yesterday with (55).”
The Stars had a chance to tie the game in the second, down 2-1, but were unable to convert on a 73-second two-man advantage. Thunder Bay also had a pair of goals disallowed, Kenny Turner turned away on a high stick and Brad Thrower denied in the third when he lived up to his name and tossed the puck into the net.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: None. Penalties: Smaha DRY (holding) 5:41, Watt DRY (cross checking) 13:22, Smaha DRY (roughing) 18:15, Siau TB (slashing) 19:04, Letwin TB (tripping) 19:10.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: Dryden, Williams 13 (unassisted) 6:17. 2. Thunder Bay, Nigro 23 (Newhouse, Turner) 8:01 pp. 3. Dryden, Watt 7 (Smaha, Williams) 16:03. Penalties: Smaha DRY (cross checking), Rooney DRY (boarding) 7:55, Newhouse TB (high sticking) 11:31, Carney DRY (roughing) 13:22, Schlitt DRY (slashing) 16:25, McPhail DRY (elbowing) 17:13.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 4. Dryden, Watt 8 (Aubin) 2:04. 5. Dryden, Noseworthy (Allkins, McPhail) 6:31. Penalties: Nigro TB (high sticking) 2:55, Newhouse TB (high sticking) 9:42, Berg DRY (hooking) 12:31, Watt DRY (elbowing) 15:07, Hamlin TB, Houston DRY (slashing) 16:49
GAME DATA – SOG – Dryden 14-10-6-30, Thunder Bay 8-10-10-28; Power plays (goals-chances) – Dryden (0-4), Thunder Bay (1-10); Goaltenders – Dryden: Troy Pierce, Thunder Bay: Riley Corbin. A: 300 (estimated).
