The Thunder Bay North Stars are in a hole that might be too big to climb out from.
The good news is they'll get a second chance.
As hosts of the Dudley Hewitt Cup, the Stars have an automatic berth in the provincial Junior A hockey championship. It may be their only hope.
On Wednesday Thunder Bay came close, but not close enough to the Wisconsin Wilderness juggernaut, falling 5-3 at Fort William Gardens to sink into a 3-0 deficit in the best-of-seven Superior International Junior Hockey League semifinal.
One more loss – which could come as soon as Thursday's Game 4 at the Gardens – and it could be nearly four weeks on the sidelines for the Stars until Ontario's best hit the city playing for the right to represent the province in the Royal Bank Cup.
Veteran Wilson Housley netted a pair of first-period goals for the Wilderness, who have not lost two games in a row all season long until the postseason against Fort Frances.
"It's better than 2-1," said Wisconsin coach Rod Aldof, asked if he liked his team's chances up three games to none.
"We came in and it was a tight game, obviously as you saw, and we were fortunate enough to get the win, so it was a good night."
Some nights are just like that, he added.
"Our specialty teams weren't as crisp as we wanted, but at the end of the night, in the playoffs, a win's a win."
North Stars coach Lonny Bohonos knows his troops have their work cut out for them. Trying to win four straight at any level is hard, junior hockey included, he said.
"We've got to give them a lot of credit, they're a great hockey club. We just have to put this one behind us and get back on it tomorrow and just take it one period at a time," Bohonos said.
The former NHLer said he was happy with the Stars performance on the power play – they scored twice with the man advantage in six opportunities – but might like to see a little more discipline against a Wisconsin team that knows how to put the puck in the net.
"They've got a great power play. We can't give them opportunities. And overall we've just got to compete a little more, win those one-one-battles and create a lot of opportunities to score," Bohonos said.
Housley broke open the back-and-forth contest at 9:01 of the first, but just over two minutes later Thunder Bay's Tyler Osborne let loose a pinball shot from just inside the point that dipped and danced its way to the net, ticked the crossbar and fell behind SIJHL top goalie Tanner Milliron in the Wisconsin net.
But Housley didn't waste time restoring the one-goal Wilderness advantage, scoring 57 second later for a 2-1 lead they'd never relinquish.
Not that the Stars didn't have the opportunities to tie the score in the second. Matt Kaarela missed an open net going the other way, then Milliron denied Mitchell Fox in close and Dylan Mascarin with a toe save on a seeing-eye shot that just didn't have the vision needed to count.
Patrick Hurley doubled the Wisconsin lead on the power play at 14:33 of the second, beating Marc Nother in the North Stars net, but with 2:12 to play in the period Sam Dubinsky fired a wrist shot from the top of the circle that flew past Milliron's glove and just under the iron to make it 3-2 after 40 minutes.
Thunder Bay finally gave way midway through the third when Mike Dietrich did what hockey players have been told for decades, put the puck on the net, and was rewarded when his low shot surprised Nother and Wisconsin went up 4-2.
Dietrich spent 12 minutes in the box in the second and third for a check to the head.
Marshall Fox made it 4-3 at 15:08 of the third, but with Nother on the bench in the final minute of regulation, Clark Anderson chipped home the insurance marker to seal the Wisconsin win.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Wisconsin, Housley (Johnson, Calabrese) 9:01. 2. Thunder Bay, Osborne (Wolframe) 11:25. 3. Wisconsin, Housley (Johnson) 12:22. Penalties: Kaarela TB (elbowing) 1:42, Calabrese WIS (hooking) 4:02, Belobaba WIS (roughing) 10:36, Orosey TB (cross checking) 12:44.
Second period
Scoring: 4. Wisconsin, Hurley (Blaisdell, Johnson) 14:42 pp. 5. Thunder Bay, Dubinsky (Wolframe, Nother) 17:46. Penalties: Blacksmith TB (roughing) 5:23, Dietrich WIS (check to head, misconduct) 12:45, Kaarela TB (slashing) 13:13, Lapenskie TB (high sticking) 14:03.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 6. Wisconsin, Dietrich (Blaisdell) 10:54. 7. Ma. Fox (Kaarela) 15:08 pp. Penalties: Hendrickson TB (holding) 15:01.
GAME DATA – SOG – Wisconsin 9-13-9-31, Thunder Bay 10-10-10-30; Power plays (goals-chances) – Wisconsin (1-4), Thunder Bay (2-6); Goaltenders – Wisconsin: Tanner Milliron, Thunder Bay: Marc Nother; A: 1,039.
