THUNDER BAY – E.J. Paddington broke open a 2-2 tie with 2:30 to go in regulation, and the Thunder Bay North Stars took over top spot in the Superior International Junior Hockey League.
Tyler Jordan added an insurance marker into the empty net with 36 ticks left on the Fort William Gardens clock, rounding out the scoring in Thunder Bay’s 4-2 win over the visiting Red Lake Miners.
Cohen Tangedal, with his fourth of the season, and Edison Weeks, with his 11th, also scored for the North Stars, who trailed 1-0 after 40 minutes.
Andrew Sikora and Aiden Corbett replied for the Miners, who fired 20 shots at North Stars goaltender Keenan Marks.
Ethan Neitsch was good on 39 of 42 shots directed his way.
The Stars improved to 13-4-1, a point ahead of idle Kam River, but the Fighting Walleye have three games in hand. The fifth-place Miners are 8-6-1.
It was the first of three games the two teams will play at the Gardens this weekend.
Sioux Lookout 2, Wisconsin 0: Matthew Spencer-Dahl made 27 saves to pick up his second shutout of the season. Tait Howell and Dayvall Bull scored 2:47 apart in the first, rounding out the scoring before the game was 12 minutes old. The home-team Bombers (11-5-2) leapfrogged Dryden (11-6-1) into third place in the SIJHL standings. The sixth-place Lumberjacks dropped to 5-8-3.
