Brandon Wolframe had a pair of goals and two assists Wednesday, helping the Thunder Bay Stars snap a three-game losing slide with his season-high output.
It was just the type of performance the goal-starved North Stars were looking for, coming off a dismal weekend south of the border that saw the former powerhouse squad lose to front-running Wisconsin, second-place Fort Frances and hit a season-low, dropping a 3-2 decision to the cellar-dwelling Iron Range Ironheads, who come to town this weekend.
Quinn Rempel, birthday boy Devin Fullum and Joshua Blacksmith also scored for the Stars in the 5-2 Fort William Gardens win. Dryden got goals from Tom Kuhn and Ryan Lobreau, who wrapped up the scoring in the SIJHL contest, tallying with less than two minutes to go in the third.
Wolframe, moved to the Stars first line with Matt Kaarela and Brennan Dubchak nursing injuries that will likely keep them out of the line-up for a couple of weeks, credited his line-mates Brandon Warmington and Rempel, for helping him adjust to his new role.
"I think we had a pretty strong game tonight. I know it was a little disappointing over the weekend what happened, so we definitely had to come out and help the team get a few points tonight. It was big for us," said Wolframe, one of 13 home-grown talents on the North Stars roster.
Checking in with eight goals and 16 assists in 34 games, Wolframe, who turned 18 last Friday, said he knows what coach Todd Howarth wants him to do.
"My role is to just go out there and be a playmaker. So I just go out there and work and get things done," he said.
Howarth said he has high expectations for his first-year forward.
"He's just a good, young rookie. He's got great talent. His talent level is unheard of. He sees the ice well and he has a willingness to compete and he's not scared," Howarth said. "He had a great night. We've got quite a few injuries right now, we've got two centre-men out, and he's been pushed to be the No. 1 guy here, and look what he did."
What he did was help pull the Stars (20-15-5) into a third-place tie with the Ice Dogs (20-17-5), in a game that had slow beginnings for both sides.
It took an Ice Dogs mistake, while they were on the power play, for the Stars to break through with the game's first goal.
Rempel authored it, sliding a weak shot underneath Dryden goalie Dean Shepherdson, the shorthanded goal coming at the 11-minute mark.
Fullum pushed the lead to a pair of goals three-and-a-half minutes later, firing a harmless shot that Shepherdson couldn't handle. Wolframe scored a beauty in the final minute of the first, swatting away a rebound off a Fullum shot, though the three-goal lead lasted all of 20 seconds, when Kuhn fired the puck into a crowd that North Stars goalie Marc Nother couldn't get a handle on.
Blacksmith netted the only goal of the second and the two teams traded goals in the third.
Dryden's Jesse Linner earned an assist on Lobreau's goal, collecting the 100th point of his SIJHL career.
Marc Nother stopped 21 shots to pick up the win, with Shepherdson failing on four of 31 shots directed at the Ice Dogs net.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Thunder Bay, Rempel (Wolframe, Alexander) 11:00 sh. 2. Thunder Bay, Fullum (Orosey) 14:32.3. Thunder Bay, Wolframe 9 (Fullum, Blacksmith) 19:01. 4. Dryden, Kuhn (Lobreau, Liner) 19:21. Penalties: Sonstebo DRY (interference) 2:42, Ma. Fox TB (hooking) 3:49, Lapenskie TB (check to head, misconduct) 10:23, Ma. Fox TB (tripping) 16:20, Breckenridge DRY (cross checking) 20:00
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 5. Thunder Bay, Blacksmith (Lapenskie, Wolframe) 13:29. Penalties: Mi. Fox TB (boarding) 5:33, Lapenskie TB (tripping) 8:02
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 6. Thunder Bay, Wolframe 10 (Warmington, Ma. Fox) 6:00. 7. Dryden, Lobreau (Breckenbridge, Linner) 18:18. Penalties: None.
GAME DATA – SOG – Dryden 6-5-12-23, Thunder Bay 10-13-8-31; Power plays (goals-chances) – Dryden (0-6) Thunder Bay (0-2); Goaltenders – Dryden: Dean Shepherdson, Thunder Bay: Marc Nother; A: 195.
