THUNDER BAY – Early in the season, Red Lake Miners coach Derek Sweet-Coulter wasn’t sure his team belonged in the same building as the Thunder Bay North Stars.
But after knocking them off twice in the final week of the Superior International Junior Hockey League season – including Friday’s 5-4 triumph, just the stars second regulation loss on home ice all season long, Sweet-Coulter is starting to think differently.
“I don’t know if it’s a statement to everyone else, but it’s a statement to every guy in that room, that they now believe they can beat this team,” said Sweet-Coulter on the penultimate game of the SIJHL regular season, his second-place team matching its pre-season goal of 37 wins with the triumph.
Winning at Fort William Gardens is a definite confidence boost, the two teams on a collision course, headed toward a Bill Salonen Cup showdown should the top two teams take care of business in the SIJHL semifinal round.
“It just goes to show the hard work, the leadership of our team and I’m really proud of them,” Sweet-Coulter said.
The Miners, who earned a first-round bye with their second-place finish, had to hold off a hard-charging North Stars squad, goaltender Zach Willms making an unreal, point-blank stop just before the final horn sounded on Thunder Bay defenceman Josh Bryant, blessed with one of the hardest shots in the SIJHL.
Willms admitted he was a little lucky on the shot, the Stars having closed a three-goal gap to one with a pair of goals in the final six minutes of the contest.
“I kind of blacked out, to be honest. I was pretty puck-focused. I thought (Bryant) was going to drive the net with it and then it just squirted out front. I think it got me in the shoulder or the neck,” said WIllms, on Friday named a finalist for SIJHL goaltender of the year.
“It always feels good to come with those saves for the boys when everybody’s battling hard like that in front of you.”
Despite being outshot in the final two periods, the Miners still managed to take control of the game in the second, breaking open a one-goal difference with goals four minutes apart in the second on North Stars goalie Brock Aiken, also a finalist in the goaltender-of-the-year sweepstakes.
Kyle Uzelman and Shay Sommerfeld were the goal scorers, silencing a season-high 606 who came out to watch.
But the Stars refused to quit.
After Michael Di Lullo banged home a Ty Lawrence rebound six minutes into the third, Michael Stubbs blasted a high, hard shot past Willms, the shorthanded goal coming at the 14:13 mark. Jacob Brown pulled Thunder Bay within a goal with 2:20 to play in regulation, connecting on a wrist shot with Aiken on the bench in favour of an extra attacker.
The goal did provide an SIJHL milestone when defenceman Kyle Auger drew an assist on the tally.
Auger became the first blue-liner in league history to hit the 100-point mark, just the ninth player to do so.
“It’s a pretty cool accomplishment,” said Auger, who has 30 goals and 70 assists in his second season in a North Stars uniform.
“It would have been a lot nicer to get a goal or not a second assist – and the win. It was a tough loss. We’ve got to stop spotting teams like this goals and leads. The way we play, when we can play, no one can touch us, and I wish we could play like that all the time.”
Auger owns a four-point lead in the scoring race, over teammate Keighan Gerrie and Red Lake sniper Bryce Young, who scored his league-best 57th goal of the season, the second highest single-season total in SIJHL history.
Keegan Tiringer had Red Lake's other goal. Evan Nicholas potted his 10th of the year for Thunder Bay, evening the score 1-1 at the midway point of the first.
Thunder Bay (48-5-2) wraps up their regular season at home on Saturday night against Minnesota. Red Lake travels to Fort Frances.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Red Lake, Tiringer 21 (Uzelman, Bohnet) 8:23. 2. Thunder Bay, Nicholas 10 (Kilby, Anttonen) 9:54. 3. Red Lake, Young 57 (Tiringer) 18:01. Penalties: Willan TB (cross checking) 4:23, Di Lullo RLK (charging), Stubbs TB (holding) 15:32, Auger TB (roughing) 18:20.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 4. Red Lake, Uzelman 20 (Tiringer) 11:11. 5. Red Lake, Sommerfeld (Lawrence) 15:25. 6. Thunder Bay, Brown 25 (Mihalcin, Gerrie) 17:40 Penalties: Lawrence RLK (roughing, unsportsmanlike conduct, served by Iatridis), Nicholas TB (roughing) 8:06, Willan TB (hooking) 13:45.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 7. Red Lake, Di Lullo 33 (Lawrence, Pickett) 5:50. 8. Thunder Bay, Stubbs 24 (A. Erwin) 14:13 sh. 9. Thunder Bay, Brown 26 (Auger, Bryant) 19:04. Penalties: Mignault TB roughing, Stephens RLK (roughing), Benedetto RLK (delay of game) 6:36, Sommerfeld RLK (hooking) 12:10, Willan TB (roughing) 7:29.
GAME DATA – SOG – Red Lake 12-7-7-26, Thunder Bay 9-13-17-39; Power plays (goals-chances) – Red Lake (0-4), Thunder Bay (0-3); Goaltenders – Red Lake: Zach Willms, Vince Benedetto (5:50, third, one shot, one save), Zach Willms (6:26, third) Thunder Bay: Brock Aiken; A: 606.
