It's a game coach Preston Mizzi said his Soo Thunderbirds could have executed a heck of a lot better.
But in a short tournament like the Dudley Hewitt Cup, a win's a win.
Brett Campbell secured the victory in the tournament opener on Tuesday at Fort William Gardens, shoveling home a cross-crease pass from teammate Dylan Connolly, securing a 4-3 overtime triumph over the Superior International Junior Hockey League champion Wisconsin Wilderness.
Campbell's goal was the first and only time all game the Thunderbirds, the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League champs, led the entire game.
"Our power play was working really good today," said Soo defenceman James Delayer, author of a pair of Thunderbirds goals that erased a 2-0 second period Wisconsin advantage.
"I thought we started the game off a little bit hesitant, but as the game went on we all got together as a group and came together as a team and pulled out the victory."
The loss continued a Wisconsin trend at the Dudley Hewitt Cup. The Wilderness, who represented the SIJHL in Huntsville, Ont. last year, were winless in 2011 and couldn't snap their futility streak at the provincial Junior A hockey championship in their 2012 opener.
After playing a scoreless first, Mike Dietrich got the Wilderness on the board at 15:05 of the second, followed 42 seconds later a Shane Topf tally that beat Soo goalie John Kleinhans, owner of an 11-2 playoff record.
Delayer said they didn't put too much stock in the deficit.
"We just came together as a team. That happened to us all year. A couple of times we came back from down a lot, and it was a big character win for us," said Delayer, who managed six assists in a dozen NOJHL playoff games.
"The way the tournament is set up, there is no point for (losing in) overtime, so you've got to win every game and that's what we've got to do."
Mizzi, who as a player spent time in the American Hockey League and overseas in 10 seasons, said it wasn't a pretty victory, but getting off to a winning start will hopefully set the right tone going forward.
"Obviously it's huge," he said. "The format doesn't allow much room for error. You can't really skate through the round robin playing average hockey getting average results.
"I wasn't overly happy with the way we played today. I thought we came out flat and were flat for the majority of the game, but as James said, our power play has been deadly all year and anytime teams take five, six, seven penalties against us, we're going to make them pay."
Tied 2-2 midway through the third, Wisconsin's Wilson Housley broke free and fired a wrist shot top shelf past Kleinhans. But with time winding down in regulation Jake Wright beat Tanner Milliron to knot the score 3-3 with less than two minutes to play.
Then with eight seconds to go before overtime, Milliron drew a delay of game penalty for firing the puck over the boards, leaving the Wilderness, who finished the regular season 49-6-1, shorthanded to start overtime.
Wisconsin coach Rod Aldoff was not available for comment immediately after the game.
Star gazing: The Thunder Bay North Stars, then known as the Fort William North Stars, are the only team in the four-team field with a Dudley Hewitt Cup title under their belt. They turned the trick in 2006, and were finalists in 2009 and 2010, losing to Kingston and Oakville, respectively ... Mizzi was a fourth-round pick of the Phoenix Coyotes in 1999, the same year the NHL team took Thunder Bay's Jason Jaspers in the third round ... Each team plays three round robin games. The first-place team gets a bye to the final, with the second and third-place squads battling it out in the semifinal.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: None. Penalties: Romano SOO (hooking) 12:47.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Wisconsin, Dietrich (Blaisdell) 15:05. 2. Wisconsin, Topf 1 (Bevilacqua, Hendrickson) 15:47. 3. Soo, Delayer 1 (G. Sartoretto) 18:01 pp. Penalties. Housley WIS (boarding) 3:30, Calabrese WIS (interference) 6:07, Connolly SOO (slashing) 9:17, Bench minor WIS (too many men) 17:05.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 4. Soo, Delayer 2 (Jackson, M. Sartoretto) 6:17 pp. 5. Wisconsin, Housley 1 (Shockley) 10:27. 6. Soo, Wright 1 (Michelcavage, Jackson) 18:27. Penalties: Hughes WIS (holding) 1:45, Housley WIS, Calabrese WIS (unsportsmanlike conduct) 5:25, Milliron WIS (delay of game) 19:52.
OVERTIME
Scoring: Soo, Campbell 1 (Connolly) 2:21. Penalties: none.
GAME DATA – SOG – Soo 9-10-9-4-32 Wisconsin 9-10-13-1-33; Power plays (goals-chances) – Soo (2-7), Wisconsin (0-2); Goaltenders – Soo: John Kleinhans, Wisconsin: Tanner Milliron; A: 432.
