Give the Thunder Bay North Stars high marks for not giving up.
But try as they might in a furious third period, they couldn't quite get back on even ground, pulling to within a goal on three separate occasions Friday night against the Soo Thunderbirds, only to have their opponent strike back almost instantaneously each time.
The semifinal result, an 8-5 loss, brought host Thunder Bay's season to a crashing halt and sent the Thunderbirds into Saturday's Dudley Hewitt Cup final, where they'll look for redemption against a Stouffville Spirit squad that laid a 10-2 beating on them Thursday afternoon.
"When a team comes back on you, you've got to answer with some power. We came back with two huge goals when they came back to one-goal deficits on us," said Thunderbirds forward Joey Couture, whose third-period marker put his side up 6-4 at the 6:30 mark of the final frame.
"Those two goals just got us back into the game right away and I think that's what you need to win."
It's a luxury they likely won't be able to afford on Saturday when they search for their fourth win of the tournament – the one that counts the most.
They'll do their best to put Thursday's lost, their only one of the week, behind them.
"The game starts 0-0, eh. So we've got to get up early and start the game like we did today and play 60 minutes like that," said Couture, who added an assist on Matt Amadio's second of the night at 14:39 of the third, a goal that put the Thunderbirds up 7-5.
"We can skate with those guys no problem."
The game plan is simple, he added.
"You put pressure on their young defencemen, they commit turnovers. We did that today and it was a good job," he said.
Thunderbirds coach said it wasn't always pretty, with the loss to Stouffville so fresh in their minds. But they managed to put it behind them relatively early and focus on the task at hand.
"I thought the guys did a good job of bouncing back," he said.
"We came out really hard and it was probably our best two periods of the hockey tournament, the first and second. As you saw in the third we began giving up goals and getting away from what was making us successful the first 40 minutes. But our guys stepped up and got the win."
Kevin Michelcavage scored his team-leading third goal on a screen shot to start the offence rolling six minutes into the contest, a goal that Thunder Bay's Sam Dubinsky got back less than two minutes later on the power play.
Amadio responded with a power play goal of his own at 14:53, catching North Stars forward Brandon Wolframe without his stick and firing a wrist shot past a shaky Marc Nother in the Thunder Bay net. Jake Wright made it 3-1 before the period was over, and the Thundebirds took a 5-2 lead into the third, getting second period goals from Micky Sartoretto and Brett Campbell. Brennen Dubchak scored the lone goal for the Stars.
Little by little Thunder Bay powered their way back into the do-or-die contest in the third. Quinn Rempel notched his second of the DHC at the 80-second mark, and Brandon Warmington made it 5-4 with 15 minutes to go.
But Nother misplayed a bad bounce off the end boards just over a minute later, opening the door for Couture to make it a two-goal lead again. Isaac Howarth and Amadio traded goals and Cody Zorzi iced it with a shorthanded empty-netter at 18:38.
"You work hard and the whole team battled hard," said forward Matt Kaarela, subbing for coach Lonny Bohonos in the post-game interviews.
"We tried our best. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It's just how the game goes. I'm real proud of the boys for how everyone worked and I think we proved a lot of people wrong this weekend and we worked really hard."
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Soo, Michelcavage 3 (Campbell, Delayer) 5:57. Thunder Bay, Dubinsky 3 (Osborne) 7:15 pp. 3. Soo, Amadio 1 (MIchelcavage) 14:53 pp. 4. Soo, Wright 2 (Romano, Hicks) 16:34. Penalties: M.Sartoretto SOO (hooking) 6:39, Alexander TB (cross checking) 13:26, Dubinsky TB (roughing) 17:48,
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 1. M. Sartoretto (Wright, Romano) 11:37. 6. Thunder Bay, Dubchak 3 (Kaarela, Knapp) 13:25. 7. Soo, Campbell 2 (Michelcavage, G. Sartoretto) 14:11. Penalties: Orosey TN (elbowing) 15:27.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 8. Thunder Bay, Rempel 2 (Dubinsky, Pirus) 1:20. 9. Thunder Bay, Warmington 1 (Kaarela, Dubchak) 5:12. 10. Soo, Couture 1 (Romano) 6:30. 11. Thunder Bay, Howarth (Orosey) 11:23. 12. Soo, Amadio 2 (Couture, G. Sartoretto) 14:39. 13. Soo, Zorzi 1 (Campbell, Hicks) 18:38 sh en.Penalties: Lapenskie TB (boarding) 1:37, Wolframe TB (tripping) 8:36, Couture SOO (high sticking double minor), Wolframe TB (unsportsmanlike conduct) 20:00.
GAME DATA – SOG – Thunder Bay 12-6-8-26, Soo 14-11-8-33; Power plays (goals-chances) – Thunder Bay (1-3), Soo (1-5); Goaltenders – Thunder Bay: Marc Nother, Soo: John Kleinhans; A: 1,579.
