Stars struck

It was an unlikely hero that delivered the Wisconsin Wilderness to the brink of the SIJHL final.

Hughes, who had nine goals on a team loaded with firepower, broke a scoreless tie seven minutes into the third period on Thursday night as the Wilderness put a foot to the throat of the Thunder Bay North Stars with a 1-0 Game 3 win.

Wisconsin, looking to put an end to the North Stars seven year run to the final, also rode a 21-save performance from goalie John McLean, the league’s newly minted goaltender of the year. They’ll look to close out the series at Fort William Gardens on Friday night.

Hughes, who backhanded home a puck left in front by teammate Tom Paine, said it was a grind-‘em-out type of win and he was just glad to be in the right spot at the right time.

"It was a dirty game, low scoring," he said. "I saw (North Stars goalie Guillaume) Piche giving up those rebounds and I just thought sit in the middle and I’m going to get a chance. That’s what happened." One goal was all they needed, he added, knowing the 6-foot-8 McLean had things covered in the Wilderness zone.

"Oh yeah, that’s a big confidence builder," he said of the goal. "We’ve got all the confidence in the world in John. He’s a great goalie. He pulled us through. We didn’t give him much help at the end of the game, but he played big." Hughes and his teammates aren’t taking anything for granted, despite the 3-0 series lead.

They definitely don’t want to head back to Wisconsin for Game 5.

"They definitely have all the pressure now. They’re on the ropes. We just have to go out there and have some fun and keep playing the way we are," he said.

Wisconsin coach Rod Aldoff called it a typical playoff outing, a tight contest whose outcome was up for grabs from start to finish.

That’s how it should be, he said.

"For us it was a typical road game. There wasn’t a whole lot of flow to the game, I think, for both teams. But that’s just the way it is. You grind one out and we put one in when we needed to and our goalie played real well," Aldoff said.

North Stars forward Mitch Forbes, facing possibly his final game in a Thunder Bay jersey, said he told his teammates not to get too down at their situation.

"I told them you can’t be disappointed in yourself when you put out an effort like that. They got the bounces. They scored the goal. They played great too. It was just a great game and they found a way to score and we didn’t." It was Piche who got the better of the Wilderness in a second that saw the Stars take it to their opponent for most of the period.

He robbed Paine on a breakaway two minutes in, seconds after the high-scoring forward stepped out of the penalty box. About 11 minutes later he did the same to James Kline, preserving the scoreless tie.

The Stars came close early in the third when Dan Usiski hit the post, then once again after Hughes’s marker when Daniel Franks was stopped by McLean on the doorstep, kicking away an attempted backhand.

Game time Friday night is half-an-hour later than usual, at 8 p.m. to accommodate the Ontario bantam AAA provincial hockey championship semifinals, also slated for the Gardens.

FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: No scoring. Penalties: Rempel TB (hooking) 10:03, Usiski TB (slashing) 12:08, Paine WIS (hooking) 20:00.

SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: No scoring. Penalties: Hendrickson WIS (holding) 2:56, Bench minor TB (too many men) 9:17.

THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Wisconsin, Hughes 1 (Paine) 7:41. Penalties: None.

Game Data – SOG – Wisconsin 11-6-7-24, Thunder Bay 4-11-6-21; Power plays (goals-chances) – Wisconsin (0-2), Thunder Bay (0-2); Goaltenders – Wisconsin: John McLean, Thunder Bay: Guillaume Piche; A: 700 (estimated).