THUNDER BAY – A two-game winning streak isn’t much, but coming on the heels of dropping six of seven, it can feel like a lifeline.
For the first-place, but struggling, Thunder Bay North Stars, it couldn’t have come at a better time.
The Stars on Saturday night jumped out to a 4-0 first-period lead and went on to down the visiting expansion Wisconsin Lumberjacks 7-3 at Fort William Gardens.
Defenceman Kyler Belluz, who picked up his first point in more than a month, said the recent slide wasn’t weighing too heavily in the Stars dressing room, but it also wasn’t something they wanted to drag any further into December.
“Coming back home and playing two games in a row is a big relief for us. We’ve been a way a lot and to get two wins this weekend was so important for us moving forward,” Belluz said. “We’ve got lots of home games in December and we’re really looking to take advantage, get lots of points and get out of the slump that we’re in right now.”
It’s not like the slide left the North Stars in rough shape.
After Saturday’s win they’re still 17-6-2 and own a seven-point cushion over second-place Red Lake and lead third-place Thief River Falls by eight.
But both teams have games in hand over Thunder Bay, so every point counts as the Superior International Junior Hockey League team skates closer and closer to the midway point of the 2019-20 campaign.
North Stars coach Rob DeGagne said the team came out ready and it showed.
Nikolas Campbell, fresh off a three-day tryout camp with Team West ahead of the World Junior A Challenge, put the North Stars on the board just 25 seconds into the contest, beating Wisconsin goaltender Nathan Mueller before the crowd of 292 had worked their way back into the seats after the dual pre-game anthems were done.
Jett Leishman doubled the Thunder Bay lead at 4:19 and Jacob Brown made it 3-0 at 7:25, netting his 18th goal of the season. Captain Logan Mihalcin extended the lead to 4-0 with seven minutes to go in the first.
“Our game plan was to come out early and get as many as we could. But they work hard, that team,” DeGagne said.
“They’re going to be a sleeper team by the end of the year. It kind of reminds me of the team we had a couple of years ago, where at the beginning of the year we didn’t have the success we wanted, but at the midway point, they came on.”
Case in point, the final three minutes of the first, when the last place Lumberjacks (5-17-2) bounced back with a pair of goals, cutting the North Stars lead in half.
Ryley Cardinal struck first, beating Jordan Smith at 17:35. Eighty seconds later Parker Brakebill struck and Thunder Bay took a 4-2 lead into the second.
They did it without Michael Vecchio and Evan Nicholas, who were tossed for fighting, along with Wisconsin’s Kale Bocken and Nicholas Solema, the tussles breaking out at the same time.
Max Fortin added to the Thunder Bay lead eight minutes into the second, scoring one of the strangest goals of the season. Fortin dumped the puck into the Wisconsin zone, but it ricocheted off a stanchion, off Mueller’s skate and into the Lumberjacks net.
Hunter Foreshew and Alex Erwin – with an assist from Lumberjacks defender – upped the North Stars lead to 7-2. Austin Cardinal scored with 74 seconds to go to wrap up the scoring.
Thunder Bay, who out-shot Wisconsin 50-44, heads to Dryden on Wednesday.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Thunder Bay, Campbell 9 (Willan, Privitera) 0:25. 2. Thunder Bay, Leishman 3 (Willan, Bruchkowski) 4:19. 3. Thunder Bay, Brown 18 (Bruchkowski, Leishman) 7:25. 4. Thunder Bay, Mihalcin 4 (Brown, Bruchkowski) 13:09 pp. 5. Wisconsin, R. Cardinal 2 (Hunt, Birkeland) 17:35. 6. Wisconsin, Brakebill 7 (Matthews, Moreland) 18:55. Penalties: Solema WIS (hooking) 2:59, Matthews WIS (tripping) 11:47, Bocken WIS (fighting, game misconduct), Solema WIS, (fighting, game misconduct, game misconduct, second fight, same stoppage), Nicholas TB (fighting, game misconduct, game misconduct, second fight, same stoppage), Vechhio TB (fighting, game misconduct) 13:52, Fortin TB (tripping) 14:25, Belluz TB (holding) 15:06, Birkeland WIS (tripping) 19:33.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 7. Thunder Bay, Fortin 1 (A. Erwin) 8:37. 8. Thunder Bay, Foreshew 3 (Bozac, Belluz) 12:32. 10. Wisconsin, Shetland (A. Cardinal, Shykes) 18:46. Penalties: Fortin TB (slashing) 2:22, A. Cardinal WIS (cross checking) 6:06, Leishman TB (tripping) 6:24, Mihalcin TB (cross checking) 19:18,
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring:9. Thunder Bay, A. Erwin (Bozack) 8:31. 10. Wisconsin, A. Cardinal 2 (Shetland, Shykes) 18:46. Penalties: Mihalcin TB (hooking) 1:53, Matthews WIS (tripping), Leishman TB (interference) 5:10,
GAME DATA – SOG – Wisconsin – 18-8-18-44, Thunder Bay 17-20-13-50; Power plays (goals-chances) – Wisconsin (0-6), Thunder Bay (1-4); Goaltenders – Wisconsin: Nathan Mueller, Thunder Bay: Jordan Smith; A: 292.
