THUNDER BAY – Cole Workman doesn’t have a number in mind, he’s happy to let things ride.
And why shouldn’t he?
His Thief River Falls Norskies are the talk of the junior A hockey world these days, sporting an undefeated 17-0-0 record with nearly a third of the Superior International Junior Hockey League season in the history books.
They’re the No. 1-ranked team in the Canadian Junior Hockey League, and they keep finding ways to win.
The second-year franchise scored twice 59 seconds apart on Saturday night to break open a 3-3 contest, and went on to down a Thunder Bay North Stars 6-4, a team ripe for an upset, a night after taking the Norskies to overtime and only a couple of hours after they opened a 2-0 first-period lead.
Workman said the streak isn’t really a factor in their game preparation.
“I don’t think it matters. Hockey is a game of funny bounces and right now we have a lot of puck luck on our side. But I don’t think there’s any pressure to keep it going. If you drop a game, you drop a game and you turn the page and you’ve got to move on,” Workman said.
“We’ve got a pretty good group that we don’t really pay attention to the records too much and we just take it game by game, period by period and away we go.”
They’re doing it with defence, backstopped by goaltender Brock Lefebvre, who was at it again on Saturday night, stopping 41 shots, the four goals raising his goals against average to 1.73, a full goal-a-game better than back-up Bailey Schmitz.
“He’s unbelievable. He’s single-handedly won us games. It’s never easy to win on the road and he consistently shows up and plays well. He’s earned it. I think he’s an all-star goalie in this league and he’s got the No.1 spot in the league,” Workman said.
“He bails us out. It could have been 4-0 after the first. He makes some saves that even we look at on the bench and go ‘holy cow.’”
Offensively Thief River Falls are led by Parker Simonson, a Bismarck, N.D. native who’s already surpassed his 2016-17 total, netting his 17th goal of the campaign in the third period Saturday night, 59 seconds after Blair Lindholm pounced on a rebound and went five-hole on North Stars goalie Doug Newhouse, breaking the 3-3 tie.
“My line-mates help me out a lot,” Simonson said, crediting Michael Johnson and Mitchell Soderberg for his early-season success, which saw him score in 11 straight games to start the season.
“We work well together, pass the puck and it’s all a team effort.”
The winning streak is fun, but not all-consuming. It’ll end when it ends, he said.
“It’s not that tough because everyone gets along in the locker room. We have no cliques, everyone just has a laugh all the time. It’s a great group of guys that like to work hard and we bring it to every practice.”
Evan Mignault and Carson Smith scored less than two minutes apart to hand the Stars a 2-0 advantage, but Bo Bjorge beat Newhouse for a shorthanded tally late in the first, Alec Daman tying the contest 2-2 before the period came to a close.
Jared Pedersen tallied the go-ahead goal 4:28 into the second, Brad Thrower netting the equalizer for the Stars, picking the puck up at Lefebvre’s feet and punching it home. Lindholm added an empty-netter in the third, Owen Belisle scoring with six seconds left for Thunder Bay (9-6-3).
First Period
Scoring: 1. Thunder Bay, Mignault 7 (Thrower, Roitelman) 4:39. 2. Thunder Bay, Smith 5 (Willan, Ward) 6:21. 3. Thief River Falls, Bjorge 6 (EIschen) 16:54 sh. 4. Thief River Falls, Daman 6 (unassisted) 19:33. Penalties: Belisle TB (tripping) 11:13, Daman TRF (tripping) 16:34.
Second Period
Scoring: 5. Pedersen 8 (Soderberg, Johnson) 4:28. 6. Thunder Bay, Thrower (Mignault, J. Newhouse) 16:27 pp. Penalties: Pedersen TRF (hooking) 1:26, Bench minor TB (too many men, served by Gillis) 2:25, Smith TB (roughing major) 5:52, J. Newhouse TB (roughing) 7:47, Simonson TRF (unsportsmanlike conduct) 13:43, Bennis TRF (slashing) 15:18, Grytdahl TRF, Thrower TB (roughing) 19:50.
Third Period
Scoring: 7. Thief River Falls, Lindholm 3 (Pedersen, Bennis) 16:06. 8. Thunder Bay, Simonson 17 (Johnson, Schuster) 17:05. 9. Thief River Falls, Lindholm 4 (unassisted) 19:12 en. 10.Thunder Bay, Belisle (Sherman) 19:54. Penalties: Johnson TRF (high sticking) 1:07, Bowey TRF (holding) 11:32,
GAME DATA – SOG – Thief River Falls 9-8-21-38, Thunder Bay 19-14-12-45; Power plays (goals-chances) – Thief River Falls (0-4), Thunder Bay (1-7); Goaltenders – Thief River Falls: Brock Lefebvre, Thunder Bay: Doug Newhouse; A: 320.
