THUNDER BAY – Beau knows clutch hockey.
Making his Thunder Bay North Stars debut on Friday night, Beau Helmeczi scored the power-play equalizer early in the third, then, for good measure, potted the game winner with 4:15 to play in regulation, earning his new team a 3-2 win over the Sioux Lookout Bombers.
It marked the first time this season the Bombers went down to defeat in regulation, a task no other team in the league had managed to accomplish.
“It was a good way to start my season as a North Star,” said the Esterhazy, Sask. native, who spent the 2022-23 campaign with the Port Alberni Bombers of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League, scoring 7 goals and 18 points in 43 appearances.
The Stars dominated the contest, out-shooting the visiting Bombers 26-3 in the first and 58-26 on the night, but had to fight for every goal they got, and in fact found themselves down 2-1 72 seconds into the third after Connor Burke scored his second of the night on Thunder Bay goaltender Keenan Marks.
“We just needed to capitalize. They’re a good team, so it’s what we had to do in the moment to seal the win,” Helmeczi said.
The game-winner was a matter of being in the right place at the right time, the sign of a player with plenty of hockey sense.
“My linemates down low, they were grinding it out. We were talking all game, just get it low, get it to the net. That’s what they were doing. I was just in a good spot,” Heleczi said.
North Stars coach Rob DeGagne said the newcomer has plenty to like about his game.
“He’s a great skater, he’s got a heavy shot. It seems like he likes to play more defence than offence, but he scored two good goals for us tonight, ones we needed,” DeGagne said.
“Sometimes they go in for one guy. They didn’t go in for everyone, but I’m telling you we had so many shots on net. It’s not too often you get almost 60 shots on net and only three go in.”
Thank Jack Orchard for that.
The Sioux Lookout netminder didn’t back down for a second, no matter how many shots the Stars peppered his net with, especially in the first.
Edison Weeks did manage to beat Orchard 7:37 into the game, but it took a spectacular feed from Easton Mikus skating behind the Bombers net to do so. Orchard had no chance, Weeks releasing a low shot milliseconds after Mikus’ pass hit the tape.
Thunder Bay took the 1-0 lead into the second, but Burke evened things up a period later, on just the fifth shot the Bombers laid on Marks. They took the lead 1:12 into the second, but a five-minute kneeing major assessed to Ty Love proved to be the turning point.
With the man advantage the Stars turned up the pressure and, thanks to Maxwell Buffone keeping the play alive at the blue-line, were able to knot things up again, Helmeczi firing high on Orchard, the puck sailing over his glove-hand shoulder.
It was a big win, DeGagne said.
“We didn’t get off to the start of the season that we wanted, but we were in every game and we could have won as easily as we lost those games. The hockey gods have a way of evening it out a little bit. We’ve come a long way. Our goaltending is good. I like our defence where we’re at. We’ve added a few nice pieces with Beau and Tyler (Jordan),” DeGagne said.
The Stars (6-4-0) and Bombers (9-1-1) play again on Saturday night and wrap up their three-game series on Sunday afternoon.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Thunder Bay, Weeks 3 (Mikus, Paddington) 7:37. Penalties: Sheriff TB (delay of game) 9:27, Kirk SLB (kneeing double minor) 16:22, Tangedal TB (interference) 17:04.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 2. Sioux Lookout, C. Burke 7 (Lone, Palmer) 7:01: Penalties: Burke SLB (unsportsmanlike conduct) 5:04, Marks TB (tripping, served by Glousher) 5:04, Lone SLB (cross checking) 10:06, Sheriff TB (high sticking) 14:00.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 3. Sioux Lookout, C. Burke 8 (B. Burke) 1:12. 4. Thunder Bay, Helmeczi 1 (Doherty) 4:29 pp. 5. Thunder Bay, Helmeczi (Anton, Buffone) 15:45. Penalties: Love SLB (head contact major, game misconduct, served by C. Burke) 2:29.
GAME DATA – SOG – Sioux Lookout 3-14-9-26, Thunder Bay 26-16-16-58; Power plays (goals-chances) – Sioux Lookout (0-2), Thunder Bay (1-3); Goaltenders: Sioux Lookout: Jack Osmond, Thunder Bay: Keenan Marks; A: 482.
