Stars fall short

The Thunder Bay North Stars lost another heartbreaker on Wednesday night, and have dug themselves into a huge hole at the Dudley Hewitt Cup.

But it's not so deep they can't get out.

Kevin Michelcavage scored a power play goal with 53 seconds left in the third to give the Soo Thunderbirds a 4-3 win in front of 957 Fort William Gardens, dropping the Stars to 0-2 with a must-win date with the Wisconsin Wilderness looming large on Thursday night.
The goal came moments after he put the puck in the North Stars net, only to have it waved off on the delayed penalty call.

Call it redemption, of sorts.

With the win the T-Birds (2-0) clinched a playoff spot at the four-team event, and can earn a direct berth in Saturday's final with a win over the Stouffville Spirit in their round-robin finale in Thursday's matinee match.

The Stars, who trailed by two goals in the second after Dylan Connolly and Greg Sartoretto scored four-and-a-half minutes apart, fought back to tie the game on goals by Kyle Lapenskie and rookie Bryce Knapp.

But try as they might, they couldn't get the go-ahead marker, despite a couple of dead-on chances, none better than a feed from B.J. Pirus, who found Lapenskie standing alone early in the third, only to have him stymied by Soo goalie John Kleinhans.

That's got to change on Thursday said Thunder Bay defenceman Tyler Osborne, whose second period shot from just inside the Thunderbirds blueline was tipped on the backhand by captain Sam Dubinsky, the power play goal knotting the game at 1-1.

"I just think it's everyone coming together and everyone playing the systems right and just bearing down because that's what this tournament is all about," Osborne said. "It's not going to be long, high-scoring games. We've just got to bear down and put the puck in the net. We did better today, but we've got to control our leads. We've got to get the lead first and we've got to control it."

North Stars coach Lonny Bohonos said given the obvious parity between the four teams – three of the four games so far have been decided by a single goal – specialty teams play a big role.

"They got a late power play goal and we couldn't kill it off, and that ended up being the difference as far as tonight. But looking back at the game, we have to come out like we played in the second half of the second period," said Bohonos, who once again went with back-up Carter McEachern, although on this night usual starter Marc Nother was at least on the bench and available if needed.

"I thought we came out flat, for whatever reason ... I give a lot of credit to the guys for bouncing back and getting back into the game. It was exciting there. We had a couple of chances in the third period. I thought if we could get the next one and get a lead, (it would be nice to) see how they respond. But overall, all the teams are good and you have to come to play every night."

Lapenskie's goal was pure muscle, a backhander he shoveled through Kleinhans, while Knapp, an affiliated player on loan from the Thunder Bay Kings, got his being at the right place at the right time, pouncing on a juicy rebound and rifling it home.

Jake Wright was stymied by McEachern moments after Lapenskie's near miss in the third, victim of a well-placed McEachern toe.

The playoff picture remains muddled, at best, following Day 2's results.

The SIJHL champion Wisconsin Wilderness got their first Dudley Hewitt Cup win in five attempts, knocking off the Stoufville Spirit 5-2 thanks to a two-goal, one-assist performance from Mike Dietrich. Stouffville and Wisconsin are 1-1.

Should the Spirit beat the Soo on Thursday afternoon, the winner between Thunder Bay and Wisconsin will advance to the semifinal to take on the Thunderbirds.

But if Stouffville loses, a North Stars win over Wisconsin would leave all three teams at 1-2 and send it to the tiebreaker. In a three-way tie in the standings, the first tiebreaker is goal differential. Wisconsin is currently +2, while Stouffville and Thunder Bay are both -2.

A North Stars loss automatically eliminates the host squad.