For 36 games Robbie Bonthron stuck to his defensive style of play, patrolling the Fort Frances Lakers blue-line.
The Kaministiquia native had yet to score this season, his first in the Superior International Junior Hockey League, and it was beginning to weigh on him.
The drought ended on Wednesday night, when he netted not one, but two second-period goals to propel the Lakers to a 4-1 win over the host Thunder Bay North Stars at Fort William Gardens.
The just-turned-20-year-old said he couldn’t think of a better place to stop his goalless slide.
“It was nice, playing in front of my grandparents, being back home in front of my parents. It was good pass from our forwards, a good heads-up play,” Bonthron said.
“It was time to get a goal finally.”
It didn’t hurt that the tallies sealed the victory, exacting a bit of redemption for the Lakers, whose 13-game winning streak came to an end six days earlier at the hands of these same North Stars.
“It was good coming back and winning, getting our revenge back and getting points again,” said Bothron. “We got the streak started going again.”
Long-time Fort Frances coach Wayne Strachan said he’s not necessarily looking for offence from Bonthron, but he’ll take it when he can.
“He’s a player that comes to the rink every day and works hard. He’s a player we probably rely a little more on for his defensive game.
"But with the style we play, we allow our defencemen to join the attact. Robbie made some good reads in what he was doing,” Strachan said.
“Maybe he’s been a little unfortunate enough throughout the year to not put one in the net yet. But he almost had one in the first and then came through big in the second period to help the team.”
The North Stars struck first on home ice, former Lakers forward Aaron Wesley-Chisel beating former teammate Nathan Park in the Fort Frances net midway through the opening stanza.
But three minutes later the two teams were deadlocked again when Dylan Robertson connected on the power play and the two teams hit the intermission even at a goal apiece.
Nolan Ross started the Lakers offence rolling at 9:44 of the second, one-timing Robertson’s pass from behind the net, a shot North Stars goalie Eric Mann had no chance to stop.
Bonthron put it away with tallies four minutes apart before the period ended, a frame that saw the Lakers hold the North Stars to just two shots.
Thunder Bay coach Jeremy Adduono said his club missed a couple of scoring chances and just couldn’t claw back against the No. 10 team in the Canadian Junior Hockey League rankings.
“It was just them getting position on us and outworking us and that was the difference. We never really recovered after that. But like I said, overall the effort was not good enough to beat a team like that.,” Adduono said.
The Lakers out-shot the North Stars 27 to 22.
The Stars home-stand continues on Friday when they host Dryden on Friday. English River pays a visit to the Gardens on Saturday.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Wesley-Chisel 4 (Bra. Wolframe) 10:32. 2. Fort Frances, Robertson 7 (Antonini) 13:29 pp. Penalties: Nolan FF (cross checking) 10:41, Newhouse TB (tripping) 12:38, Campbell FF (kneeing) 18:28.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 3. Fort Frances, Ross 5 (Robertson, Cota) 9:44. 4. Fort Frances, Bonthron 1 (Kooner, Nolan) 12:42, 5. Fort Frances, Bonthron 2 (Kooner, Nolan) 16:53. Penalties: Jaswal FF (slashing) 11:29, Bra. Wolframe TB (tripping) 12:15, Minerva FF (cross checking, roughing, misconduct) Spicer FF (elbowing, interference, game misconduct), Walsh TB (roughing, misconduct), Bre. Wolframe TB (roughing, cross checking, misconduct) 17:34, Caruso TB, Cousineau FF (roughing) 19:32.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: None. Penalties: McKitrick TB (high sticking) 8:06, Kellaway TB (high sticking), Meyer FF (elbowing) 12:04.
GAME DATA – SOG – Fort Frances 7-13-7-27; Thunder Bay 12-2-8-22; Power plays (goals-chances) – Fort Frances (1-3), Thunder Bay (0-4); Goaltenders – Fort Frances: Nathan Park, Thunder Bay: Eric Mann; A: 200 (estimated).
