THUNDER BAY -- Nicholas Nigro is picking up where he left off last spring.
The third-year veteran forward led the Superior International Junior Hockey League in scoring last year with 32 goals, and picked up two more on Wednesday night to lead the Thunder Bay North Stars to a 4-0 win over the visiting Minnesota Iron Rangers at Fort William Gardens.
Nigro was quick to deflect credit for his three-point effort, which gives him five points in two games.
"I've been in the league, this is my third year now," said Nigro, who had 31 goals as a rookie in 2014-15. "It's just good teammates and good linemates that get me the puck and it just finds the net."
Nigro, who had a goal an assist in the Stars opener Saturday in Hoyt Lakes, Minn., also picked up a helper in Game 2 on Joe Newhouse's early second-period tally.
It's that type of production Thunder Bay coach Jeremy Adduono is counting on this season from the 20-year-old.
"Nick's a huge part of this team. The last two years he scored more than 60 goals in this league and we expect him to do the same this year," Adduono said. "He's a really talented player, he can change the course of a game if the puck touches his stick once. But the thing with Nick that we work on with him every day is his consistency.
"If he continues to move his feet (he'll succeed). He's not just a shooter. He's a power forward who can play two ways. We're going to push him to be as good as he can be and hopefully he'll just continue to grow as a player."
Nigro opened the scoring on the power play late in the first, Newhouse doubling the lead 71 seconds into the second, firing a wrist shot top shelf through a screen for a second goal in as many attempts with the man advantage for the home side.
Nigro made it 3-0 midway through the middle stanza, taking a feed from Jett Leishman and popping home a casual wrist shot that beat Iron Rangers goalie Alex Burke on his glove-hand side.
Kris Hamlin iced it at the 18:13 mark of the second on a redirect in front of Burke.
Nathaniel Dupuis, making his return to the North Stars net after a year away from the SIJHL club, was solid in nets making 26 stops for his first SIJHL shutout. He stacked the pads to stone Minnesota's Logan Froberg in alone with 2:25 to go in the second and found a little luck too, when Sheamus Stoyle beat him off an earlier draw, the puck ringing off the iron and deflecting out of harm's way.
With Riley Corbin and Eric Mann moving on, it's nice to know there's a goalie the team can count on, Newhouse said.
"It helps when he makes 25, 27 saves for us. It's awesome. He's talking to us out there, we're talking to him. It's good chemistry. It makes it 100 times easier for us," Newhouse said.
"We've all played for some goalies that haven't made the save when he had to and that just deflates your team. Knowing he's going to make the save, you can give up shots from the outside and take your man and play the game you want to play. You don't have to worry about doing the extra things."
Star gazing: Next up for Thunder Bay is a three-game road trip that starts Friday night in Dryden and concludes with a pair in Fort Frances.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Thunder Bay, Nigro 2 (Arabia, Newhouse) 17:57. Penalties: Hamlin TB (slashing) 15:04, Bench Minor MIN (too many me, served by Reed) 16:03, Mata MIN (slashing) 20:00.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 2. Thunder Bay, Newhouse 1 (Arabia, NIgro) 1:11 pp. Penalties: Minerva MIN (unsportsmanlike conduct), Nigro (slashing) 7:23. 3. Thunder Bay, Nigro 3 (Leishman) 10:40. 4. Thunder Bay, Hamlin 1 (Thrower, Minoletti) 18:13. Stensgard MIN (slashing), Turbide TB (slashing,roughing) 8:18, Minerva MIN (slashing) 10:45, Yanovsky MIN (roughing), Newhouse TB (roughing), Corness TB (tripping, misconduct) 13:20, Theisen MIN (elbowing) 19:30.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring. None. Penalties. Glowatch TB (cross checking) 12:40.
Game Data – SOG – Minnesota 9-11-6-26, Thunder Bay 10-20-13-43; Power plays (goals-chances) – Minnesota (0-4), Thunder Bay (2-4); Goaltenders – Minnesota: Alex Burke, Thunder Bay: Nathaniel Dupuis. A: 310.
