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North Stars double up Iron Rangers to win third straight

Keighan Gerrie and Brad Thrower score twice each and Turner Santin has a goal and two helpers in his North Stars debut.

THUNDER BAY – The Thunder Bay North Stars are in no-man’s land.

Essentially locked into third place, 13 points up on the fourth-place English River Miners and 13 points behind the second-place Dryden Ice Dogs, barring a long losing streak or a collapse ahead of them in the standings, the Stars are playing out the string.

But they want to do it properly.

It’s all about avoiding bad habits and fine-tuning their game to hit the playoffs on a roll.

It’s a work in progress, said coach Rob DeGagne, whose team gave up an early goal on Wednesday night but stormed back in the second and third to double up the visiting Minnesota Iron Rangers 6-3 in front of 150 fans at Fort William Gardens.

“We’ve got a pretty good lock on third place right now, though things can happen,” the first-year coach said.

“But we’ve got to prepare ourselves for February, March, April and we need to get better and better and better. We’ve got to go into February and we’ve got to win a few games against Dryden and Thief River Falls, because it’s a good psyche for yourself because these are the teams we’ve got to beat.”

Rookie forward Keighan Gerrie, who scored twice and now has 13 goals in 31 appearances, said finding a way to knock off Dryden and Thief River Falls down the stretch will go a long way to building confidence once the post-season arrives.

“You’ve always got to keep your feet moving against them for sure. They’re the top teams in the league right now, so we’ve got to try to make a mark and get them ready for the playoffs,” Gerrie said.

It doesn’t hurt the cause adding skilled players to the lineup.

The Superior International Junior Hockey League club did just that in landing forward Turner Santin from the Portage Terriers of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, in return for forward Shayne McKay.

Santin, a Thunder Bay native, paid immediate dividends in his debut, scoring an empty netter to seal the victory late in the third and adding a pair of assists.

The 20-year-old, who didn’t light the lamp once in 34 games with the Terriers this season after scoring eight times a year ago, was happy to get goal No. 1 out of the way in a hurry.

“It’s good to get the first couple of points in my first game of the season here,” Santin said, adding he expects to add grit to the North Stars lineup, chipping in offensively where he can.

“Honestly I did have a monkey on my back for a while now, so it was good to find the empty net.”

Zac Horn scored the only goal of the first, pushing a rebound past North Stars goalie Dougie Newhouse at the 11:30 mark.

It was all Thunder Bay (20-11-3) in the second, Gerrie scoring a pair, including a one-timer on a pinpoint pass from line-mate Avery Siau from the side of Rob Ivy’s net that knotted the contest at a goal apiece.

Brad Thrower scored twice for the Stars, taking over third place in the SIJHL goal and points parade, upping his season total to 23 tallies.

Kyle Auger had Thunder Bay’s other goal and has two goals and seven points in five games since joining the team after the Christmas break.

Minnesota, who sliped to 3-27-3, also got goals from Garrett Wojcicki and Clayton Brown, both in the third.

The North Stars launch a five-game road trip on Friday in Fort Frances, returning home Feb. 2 for a pair against Dryden.

First period
Scoring
: Minnesota, Horn 11 (Nagy, Sturko) 11:30. Penalties: Siau TB (cross checking, roughing, misconduct), Litke MIR (roughing) 1:56, Sanchez MIN (slashing) 14:02.

Second period
Scoring
: 2. Thunder Bay, Gerrie 12 (Siau) 0:58 pp. 3. Thunder Bay, Thrower 22 (Mignault, Santin) 10:35. 4. Thunder Bay, Gerrie 13 (Leonidas, Maticic) 10:29 pp. Penalties: Scott MIR (cross checking) 0:27, Litke MIR (hooking) 10:49, Santin TB (cross checking) 12:27, Scott MIR (interference) 16:30, Behse TB (interference) 19:47.

Third period
Scoring
: 5. Minnesota, Wojcicki 3 (Kinsman, Horn) 5:58 pp. 6. Thunder Bay, Auger 2 (Mignault, Mihalcin) 7:12. 7. Thunder Bay, Thrower 23 (Mihalcic, Santin) 16:22. 8. Minnesota, Brown 9 (Kinsman, Sanchez) 17:58. 9. Thunder Bay, Santin 1 (Auger) 18:31 en. Penalties: Mihalcin TB (cross checking) 4:16,

GAME DATASOG – Minnesota 6-9-11-26, Thunder Bay 13-18-10-41; Power plays (goals-chances) – Minnesota (1-4) Thunder Bay (2-4); Goaltenders – Minnesota: Rob Ivy, Thunder Bay: Dougie Newhouse; A: 150.



Leith Dunick

About the Author: Leith Dunick

A proud Nova Scotian who has called Thunder Bay home since 2002, Leith is Dougall Media's director of news, but still likes to tell your stories too. Wants his Expos back and to see Neil Young at least one more time. Twitter: @LeithDunick
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