Skip to content

North Stars build early lead, stave off elimination in Game 4

The Thunder Bay North Stars season will last at least another couple of days.
369512_86094576
Thunder Bay's Aaron Wesley-Chisel races away from Fort Frances forward Bryson Jasper Tuesday night at Fort William Gardens. The Stars held off the Lakers 6-5. (By Leith Dunick, tbnewswatch.com)

The Thunder Bay North Stars season will last at least another couple of days.

Facing elimination in Game 4 of their best-of-seven Superior International Junior Hockey League semifinal against the Fort Frances Lakers, the Stars offence came to life on Tuesday night and scored the five-time champions a 6-5 reprieve to extend the series to a fifth game Thursday night in Fort Frances.

Nicholas Nigro led the way offensively for the Stars, scoring once and adding three helpers, while Nathaniel Dupuis made 49 saves, many in acrobatic fashion to secure the season-saving triumph at Fort William Gardens.

Knowing they survived, with a chance to end a season of futility in Fort Frances is a huge sense of relief said Dupuis, who took over from Eric Mann in Monday's Game 3 loss, allowing just one goal in nearly two periods of play.

"It's never easy when you look at the bigger picture being down 3-0. We're just happy to play another day," said Dupuis, who made a gigantic stop on Lakers forward Colton Spicer early in the second, his team clinging to a two-goal lead, the league's most powerful offence set to pounce.

Despite allowing five goals, Dupuis said he's not about to get down on himself.

"It's easy to criticize yourself when there's that many goals going by you. I just did my best and tried to give my team a chance to win and luckily we played a hell of a game and we got the win," the Thunder Bay native said.

Timely goals didn't hurt.

And none came at a more opportune time than Daniel McKtrick's first-period tally, his fourth of the post-season.

The Stars had jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on Ryan Walsh's power-play marker just 84 seconds after the opening puck drop, but the Lakers responded in a hurry. Bowen Alcock tied the game at 6:4o and by 7:31 Nolan Ross had vaulted them into the lead.

But 11 seconds later McKitrick took a feed from Kenny Turner, hustled in alone on Lakers goalie Pierce Dushenko and slammed it into the net to tie the game.

"I hope I'll bury that all the time," said the 5-foot-7 17-year-old Thunder Bay-born McKitrick, praising Turner for getting him the puck.

Nigro and Turner also in the first for Thunder Bay, who led 4-2 after 20 minutes.

Mathias Gardiman powered a wrist shot early in the second past Dushenko, who got the start over SIJHL goalie of the year Nathan Park.

It was Thunder Bay's first three-goal lead of the series.

Fort Frances defenceman Nick Minerva got one back before the period ended, beating Dupuis on the power play, a low shot that went untouched from just inside the blue-line at the 11:09 mark.

Wyatt Cota drew the Lakers within one early in the third, but Kris Kellway, who could have played his final game at the Gardens should the Stars not force Game 6, restored the two-goal lead on the power play less than four minutes later. With Dushenko on the bench, Fort Frances closed the gap to one with 12 seconds to play in regulation, but couldn't control the puck off the ensuing draw and will try to close out the series on home ice.

The Stars, who lost five times in the regular season and twice more in the playoffs at Ice For Kids Arena in Fort Frances, are confident they can keep the series going in Game 5.

They just need to repeat more of what they did on Tuesday.

"I reminded the guys of what I think was an 11-game winning streak we had in the first half of the season and ... reminded them that there's no reason we shouldn't have that confidence at home. And we definitely came out tonight and had a great start," said coach Jeremy Adduono.

SIJHL notes: In the other semifinal, Blake Berg scored with 31 seconds remaining in the third to stake the Dryden Ice Dogs to a commanding 3-1 series lead over the Minnesota Iron Rangers with a 4-3 win.

FIRST PERIOD
Scoring
: 1. Thunder Bay, Walsh (Nigro, Gardiman) 1:24 pp. 2. Fort Frances, Alcock (Spicer, Vela) 6:40. 3. Fort Frances, Ross (Kapcheck, Antonini) 7:31. 4. Thunder Bay, McKitrick 5 (Turner, Belisle) 7:42. 5. Thunder Bay, Nigro 5 (Wesley-Chisel) 11:28. 6. Thunder Bay, Turner 3 (Belisle, McKitrick) 18:23 pp.  Penalties: Cota FF (tripping) 0:30, Tighe TB (roughing), Dushenko FF (holding, served by Romano) 5:42, Chorney FF (high sticking double minor) 15:40.

SECOND PERIOD
Scoring
: 7. Thunder Bay, Gardiman 6 (Nigro, Dupuis) 4:01. 8. Fort Frances, Minerva (Vela, Cota) 11:09 pp. Penalties:  Robertson FF (hooking) 6:32, Minerva FF (cross checking) 7:55, Kellaway TB () 11:00, Wesley-Chisel TB (holding) 12:05, Wesley-Chisel TB (slashing) 17:12.

THIRD PERIOD
Scoring
: 9. Fort Frances, Cota (Chorney) 4:21. 10. Thunder Bay, Kellaway (Nigro, Walsh) 8:05 pp. 11. Fort Frances, Ross (Cota) 19:48. Penalties: Spicer FF (goaltender interference) 7:52, Tighe TB (hooking) 9:41,

GAME DATA – SOG – Fort Frances 11-21-21-54, Thunder Bay 16-7-4-27, Power plays (goals-chances) – Fort Frances (1-4), Thunder Bay (3-6); Goaltenders – Fort Frances: Pierce Dushenko, Thunder Bay: Nathaniel Dupuis. A: 500 (estimated).



Leith Dunick

About the Author: Leith Dunick

A proud Nova Scotian who has called Thunder Bay home since 2002, Leith is Dougall Media's director of news, but still likes to tell your stories too. Wants his Expos back and to see Neil Young at least one more time. Twitter: @LeithDunick
Read more



push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks