THUNDER BAY – Sometimes, all it takes is a little trickery.
Ironically, it was a play named after recently located Ironwood Lumberjacks new home state that helped lead to their downfall on Tuesday night.
Thunder Bay’s Easton Glousher, his team trailing 2-1 to a team with just two wins in its first 10 outings, pulled off a Michigan, scoring a lacrosse-style goal from behind Lumberjacks net early in the second period of their Superior International Junior Hockey League contest.
The goal lit a fire under a North Stars team riding an eight-game winning streak. Three-and-a-half minutes later Matthew Lysak put the home side up for good, beating Ironwood goaltender Kole Kronstedt and Thunder Bay went on to win their ninth in a row, scoring six unanswered to close out the game and went on to down the Lumberjacks 7-2 to improve to 9-2-0 on the season, tied for top spot in the standings with the Dryden Ice Dogs.
The move was something Glousher was messing with in practice, and with his team struggling to generate offence, he figured it couldn’t hurt to give it a try in a game setting.
“I got it behind the net and there was no one really on me. They had the front of the net pretty covered, so I just thought I may as well try it. And I got lucky,” said Glousher, who’s been practicing the move on his backyard rink for years.
He just never thought he’d actually get the chance to give it a go for real.
“Yeah, I was just getting out there in the backyard, getting a little creative trying different things you normally wouldn’t try in a game, so when it comes into a game situation, you can try and do those things,” said Glousher, the goal giving him seven on the season.
North Stars coach Rob DeGagne said the Michigan isn’t in the Thunder Bay playbook, and it’s not something he wants to see every game, but he gave props to his veteran forward for making it work.
“That is hard to do,” DeGagne said. “You’ve got to be really gifted with your hands to do something like that. I don’t know if I liked it, but you’ve got to kind of like it, at that point in the game. They’ve got a lot of confidence, these kids … It was a catalyst. It got everyone going.”
Thunder Bay trailed 1-0 and 2-1 in the opening period, Tyler Jordan knotting the game at a goal apiece at 15:27 of the first to extend his point-scoring streak to 10 games and up his goal total to 11 in 11 appearances.
Ironwood’s Cooper Malkowski only needed 54 seconds to give the Lumberjacks back the lead, but it didn’t last long after the break, thanks to Glousher.
The floodgates opened from there.
Up 3-2 to start the third, Cohen Tangedal had two juicy rebounds deep in Ironwood territory and capitalized on the second, the power play goal coming just 73 seconds into the third. Beau Helmeczi scored back-to-back goals as the Stars pulled away in the final frame.
His second tally chased Kronstedt from the Lumberjacks net, replaced by Mathias Anderson, whose lone blemish was a shorthanded marker off the stick of Marcellus Francis, his first in a Thunder Bay uniform.
It’s been a pretty good run, DeGagne said.
“It’s nice to win at the beginning of the season,” he said.
Thunder Bay outshot Dryden 52-37.
The Stars travel to Dryden this weekend for a pair against the Ice Dogs, who also sport a 9-2-0 record.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Ironwood, Braunscheidl 3 (Malkowski, Loney) 8:32. 2. Thunder Bay, Jordan 11 (Tangedal, Bryson) 15:27. 3. Ironwood, Malkowski 1 (Thomas, St-Onge) 16:21. Penalties: Glousher TB (high sticking) 10:33, Seib IRW (hooking) 14:24, Franz TB (slashing) 14:50, Charron IRW (boarding) 19:05.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 4. Thunder Bay, Glousher 7 (Lysak, Forrester) 2:26. 5. Thunder Bay, Lysak 3 (Glousher, Forrester) 6:04. Penalties: Anton TB (roughing) 7:19, Thomas IRW (cross checking) 19:17.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 6. Thunder Bay, Tangedal 5 (Remenda, Bryson) 1:13 pp. 7. Thunder Bay, Helmeczi 5 (Francis) 3:06. 8. Thunder Bay, Helmeczi 6 (Marshall, Francis) 6:33. 9. Thunder Bay, Francis 1 (Helmeczi, Laurette) 17:39 sh. Penalties: Gulden IRW (tripping) 7:06, Remenda TB (interference) 7:08, Anton TB (slashing) 13:48, Anton TB () 16:24.
GAME DATA – SOG – Ironwood 16-13-8-37, Thunder Bay 17-14-21-52; Power plays (goals-chances) – Ironwood (0-6), Thunder Bay (1-4); Goaltenders: Ironwood: Kole Kronstedt (40 shots, 34 saves), Mathias Anderson (6:33, third), Thunder Bay: Ben Laurette; A: 180.
