THUNDER BAY – The Thunder Bay North Stars’ 11-game winning streak has come to an end.
The Superior International Junior Hockey League leading North Stars fell 3-2 in a shootout to the Thief River Falls Norskies at the Fort William Gardens on Saturday night, suffering the team’s third loss in their first 24 contests of the campaign.
Thunder Bay forced overtime with a Ryan Mignault equalizer with just 25 seconds remaining in regulation, before the visitors scored in both of their shootout attempts to come away with the victory. The North Stars accumulated 62 penalty minutes, though they held Thief River Falls to a single goal in nine power play opportunities.
While North Stars head coach Rob DeGagne said he was proud of his team’s effort and ability to battle back, the constant parade to the penalty box left a sour taste in his mouth after the game.
The league should be ashamed of itself, DeGagne said, insisting local media should ask SIJHL commissioner Bryan Graham for an explanation.
“I’m 53 years old, I’ve never seen anything like that in my life,” DeGagne said.
DeGagne and Graham engaged in a brief shouting match in the hallway following the game.
One night after finding the back of the net eight times, the potent North Stars attack was stymied by Thief River Falls goaltender Bailey Schmitz, who turned aside 58 of the 60 shots he faced, along with both of the shootout tries.
Thunder Bay opened the scoring in the first period as Avery Siau, who was suspended for the first 18 games of the season, scored his first of the season as he whacked home a rebound from the doorstep while the North Stars had a man advantage.
The Norskies answered back before the end of the period when Boe Bjorge grabbed a puck in the offensive zone and beat North Stars goalie Dougie Newhouse between the wickets.
While the middle stanza ended without any tallies, the North Stars earned plenty of frequent flier miles making trips to the sin bin. In a nearly five-minute stretch, Thunder Bay accumulated 38 penalty minutes, including three 10-minute misconducts. That led to a bizarre scene where the home penalty box had five players seated, while the Thief River Falls box was empty.
While the Norskies power play couldn’t anything accomplished in that period, they did go ahead with a power play tally early in the third. With just five seconds remaining in their man advantage, Brett Piper solved Newhouse for the visitors’ first lead of the night.
That edge stood until the final minute of regulation, when a frantic Thunder Bay push ended with Mignault capitalizing from in close, leading to a jubilant eruption from the home side and disbelief from the road team.
After an uneventful overtime, Thief River Falls sealed the deal with shootout markers from Bjorge and Blake Nelson while Mignault and Keighan Gerrie came up empty for Thunder Bay.
Star gazing: The North Stars’ previous loss was a 6-0 defeat to Dryden on Oct. 27…The league handed out suspensions to three North Stars players, with forward Jacob Anttonen sitting for eight games, forward Alex Erwin out for two games and defenceman Cole Turbide getting one game for their actions in Friday’s contest against Thief River Falls.
