THUNDER BAY -- Kenny Turner may still have his North Stars uniform on.
It’s tough to let go, the Thunder Bay captain said on Tuesday night, his team eliminated in six games of a rough-and-tumble Superior International Junior Hockey League best-of-seven semifinal series against the visiting Dryden Ice Dogs.
The Stars, playing in front of a season-high 820 crowd at Fort William Gardens, fell 5-3, after fighting back from a two-goal deficit to pull even at three apiece after 40 minutes, dropping a 4-2 series decision.
Turner said he knows when the jersey finally does come off, his junior hockey journey is at a close.
He’s just not ready yet.
“It’s definitely an emotional day,” the Thunder Bay-born centre said. “Coming back from a 3-1 deficit to tie it up and eventually losing in the third period is a tough way to go out. But the boys battled hard. We did everything we could.
“Nobody quit, all the way to the last buzzer and that was awesome to see. I’m proud I got to be a North Star this year.”
The three-year veteran said it was just one of those contests.
“You know what, this game could have gone either way. As you can see from this series, there were two overtime games, two one-goal games. This series has been extremely tight. We could have easily been up 3-2 playing to win it tonight.”
North Stars coach Jeremy Adduono, who took over the team midway through the campaign, said once it sinks in, he and his players will realize just how tight a series it was.
“I couldn’t say enough about the way our kids played in Game 5 to give ourselves a chance here, but I thought we came out a little bit flat tonight. Some of that is probably due to a lot of guys playing a lot of minutes, and obviously missing a couple of key people today,” Adduono said.
Both teams were minus guys they’d counted on all season. The North Stars lost defencemen Aaron Wesley-Chisel and Joe Newhouse to injury during the first five games, the Ice Dogs losing top scorer Derek McPhail to a two-game suspension for the hit this past Sunday that sidelined Newhouse for the season.
It was the Stars who pounced first.
Avey Siau beat emergency starter Troy Pierce just 2:19 into the contest, but the lead lasted all of seven seconds, Braeden Allkins notching his third of the semifinal at the 2:26 mark after a scramble in front of Thunder Bay goalie Riley Corbin.
Dryden’s Nathan Avery put the Ice Dogs in front 8:31 of the first, then doubled the lead on the power play 6:14 into the second, his seventh of the playoffs.
Brad Thrower made it a one-goal game seven-and-a-half minutes into the middle frame, then Bryce Martyn crashed the net and pushed home the equalizer with 1:16 left in the period, after Siau pass found its way to Pierce’s feet.
Dryden’s Kyle Pouncy, taking advantage of a bad North Stars change, fired a wrist shot by Corbin for the winner at the 13:40 mark of the third. Tanner Watt iced it 74 seconds later.
“I was just ecstatic. I was jumping and I was going crazy,” Avery said of Pouncy’s tally. “I was about to go off the ice, but I just sprinted right down to celebrate with him. It was a great time.”
The Ice Dogs, who out-shot Thunder Bay 42-29, will take on Fort Frances in the Bill Salonen Cup final.
