THUNDER BAY -- Brad Arabia would rather the Thunder Bay North Stars make their mistakes early in September than when the games start to count.
It’s why he’s not putting too much stock in Saturday night’s 3-2 Superior International Junior Hockey League exhibition loss to the visiting Fort Frances Lakers at Port Arthur Arena.
The pre-season is all about players finding their legs and coaches getting a chance to evaluate the newcomers and returnees, said Arabia, who pitched in a goal and an assist in the defeat, the winning goal coming off the stick of Lakers forward Matt Tustin with just 18.5 seconds left in regulation.
It’s no big deal, Arabia said.
“It was our first game skating as a team. I think we did pretty well. It’s hard to simulate (game conditions) in practice, so to get a real game simulation and some other faces to compete against, I thought we responded well,” said Arabia, whose one-timer on the power play snuck past Lakers goalie Ryan Wagner as the second period neared the midway mark.
“It was a tough bounce in the third and that was the deciding factor.”
Veteran North Stars coach Jeremy Adduono said he wanted a chance to see his players in action, get an idea of what they might bring to the team in 2016-17.
“More than anything I wanted to see guys I haven’t coached before, seeing guys that haven’t been with the team the past couple of years,” Adduono said.
“We didn’t get into a lot of team stuff. We’ve only had a week of practice. Really what I wanted to see tonight was a simple game and some creativity from some of the guys.”
Tustin broke open the scoring just 78 seconds into the contest, but Thunder Bay’s Brett Wolframe potted the equalizer at the 13:02 mark of the opening period.
Lakers captain Dylan Kooner put Fort Frances back on top, the third-year veteran switching to his backhand as he crossed the crease in front of newly arrived Thunder Bay goalie Dan Demaria and roofing it for a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.
Arabia’s goal was the lone goal of the middle stanza, which saw both teams switch goaltenders at the halfway point, Brett Davidson taking over for Thunder Bay, Billy Gorn for the defending champion Lakers.
North Stars offensive-minded defenceman Joe Newhouse said the team has definitely taken steps to improve on last year’s fourth-place finish.
“We’ve got a good group of guys in there and lots of leaders, lots of guys who have played in the league,” said Newhouse, a veteran of parts of three seasons with the Thunder Bay squad.
“I know we have it in us, we can beat any team in the league if we wanted to. It’s just a matter of bringing it every night and bonding as a team.”
