THUNDER BAY – Forty-one seconds into Friday night’s Superior International Junior Hockey League contest, the Kenora Islanders found themselves in unfamiliar territory – the lead.
It didn’t last long.
The Thunder Bay North Stars scored twice before the first period ended, two of six unanswered tallies, and went on to hand the two-win Islanders their sixth straight loss, the 10th time in 11 outings Kenora has come out on the wrong end on the scoreboard.
Acoyen Fehr scored twice and added an assist to pace the North Stars (17-8-2) to a second straight win, helping them keep pace in the tightly packed standings, with one game to go before the Christmas break.
Fehr, who has 11 points in 10 appearances since joining the North Stars mid-season from the Virden Oil Capitals of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, said it was a slow start for his side, but once they got going, they were able to pull out the lopsided win.
“We came out a little slow, but figured it out and we really bared down,” said Fehr, who hails from Morden, Man.
Martellus Francis and Fehr scored less than three minutes apart in the latter stages of the opening period to wipe out an early 1-0 Islanders lead, and Thunder Bay, who scored double digits against Kenora (2-24-2) in each of three earlier matches this season, pule4d away in the second to notch a 6-1 win at Fort William Gardens.
It wasn’t always pretty, but the two points are big, said Thunder Bay coach Rob DeGagne.
“It’s not the start we wanted. We just, for whatever reason, do not start games well. We’ve been like that notoriously for the first three months here, where seem to always have to battle back. I’m not sure why,” DeGagne said.
“They played good in the first period and started to come back a little bit and we sort of took over the game.”
Fehr added his second of the night at 15:42 of the second, blasting a one-timer past Islanders goaltender Ethan Beattie, taking a pass from line-mate Beau Helmeczi, stationed behind the Kenora net.
“It feels good, anything to help the team win,” said Fehr of his three-point night. “We’re playing some good hockey right now and I hope it keeps going that way.”
Tallen Caron had the Islanders goal, making a nifty move in Keenan Marks’ crease before depositing the puck into the back of the North Stars net.
Up 2-1 late in the second, Fehr, Alex Remenda and Connor Larrett produced three goals between in a 2:50 span, upping the Thunder Bay lead to 5-1, an advantage they’d take into the third, when Beau Helmeczi rounded out the scoring, lifting the puck off Kenora netminder Ethan Beattie seven minutes into the frame.
Marks was good on 33 of 34 Islanders shots, while his Kenora counterpart made 52 saves, including 27 in the third period alone.
Each team was 0-2 on the power play.
The Islanders, who were forced to postpone two games last weekend, and North Stars will tangle again on Saturday night. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
Sioux Lookout 4, Red Lake 1: Alex Lucas and Michael Casey staked the defending champion Bombers to a 2-0 lead in the first and Sage Roberts and Eric Blazino preserved the win with third-period tallies to lead the Bombers to a road win against the Miners.
Fort Frances 3, Ironwood 2: Brady Krentz, Nolan Barker and Ian Ness staked the Lakers to a 3-0 lead and they held on for a one-goal victory after Marshall Thomas and Aidan Charron closed the gap to close out the second.
Dryden 6, Kam River 2: McLaren Paulsen, Rylan Oatman, with his second of the night, and Max Roby scored unanswered goals in the third period to help the Ice Dogs (21-5-2) pull away and re-establish a four-point lead in the standings over the second-place Fighting Walleye. Daxton Lang and Carter Nailen had the goals for Kam River (20-9-0), who snapped a six-game winning streak with the loss.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Kenora, Caron 3 (unassisted) 0:41. 2. Thunder Bay, Francis 15 (Simeoni, Lacasse) 14:18. 3. Thunder Bay, Fehr 3 (Helmeczi) 17:09. Penalties: Jordan TBN (interference) 14:51, Mann KEN (holding) 18:56.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 4. Thunder Bay, Fehr 4 (Remenda, Bryson) 15:42. 5. Thunder Bay, Remenda 14 (Marshall) 16:58. 6. Thunder Bay, Larrett (unassisted) 18:32. Penalties: Loke TB (interference) 6:06, Bunting KEN (hooking) 9:57.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 7. Thunder Bay, Helmeczi (Fehr, Lacasse) 6:54. Penalties:
GAME DATA – SOG – Kenora 9-14-11-34, Thunder Bay 13-17-28-58; Power plays (goals-chances) – Kenora (0-2), Thunder Bay (0-2); Goaltenders – Kenora: Ethan Beattie, Thunder Bay: Keenan Marks; A: 363.
