OLIVER PAIPOONGE – The Thunder Bay North Stars have given the Kam River Walleye some pretty good battles this season.
They just haven’t translated into any wins.
It was more of the same on Wednesday night, when the visiting North Stars, down to just 13 players because of injury and suspension, hung with the top-ranked Fighting Walleye for more than half the game.
They just couldn’t hold off the high-flying front-runners, in a battle of their own with the Dryden Ice Dogs for top spot in the Superior International Junior Hockey League Standings.
Josh Pufahl, with a shorthanded tally, and Riley Borody scored 42 seconds apart in the second period on Wednesday night, breaking open a 1-1 as the Fighting Walleye went on to win 5-2 at the Norwest Arena, capturing their sixth straight Superior International Junior Hockey League triumph.
“I thought our first needed to be better. We knew that. Pucks weren’t going our way. There were too many turnovers after that. In the second and third we kind of cleaned up our own game and started bearing down on chances, kind of playing our game and getting back on that roll we’d been on,” said Pufahl, a Calgary native who has put up three goals and 10 points in 14 games since arriving in a trade with Kindersley of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.
The Fighting Walleye did get on the board first, Daxton Lang potting his fourth of the season past Thunder Bay starter Keenan Marks, who faced 51 shots on the night. But the Stars responded four minutes later, Jamie Fuchs punching it past Eric Vanska and the two teams hit their dressing rooms knotted at one.
Thunder Bay’s short bench and lack of experience began to show in the second.
Awarded the game’s first power play, it was Puhfal who wound up with the special teams tally, snagging the puck from Edison Weeks and racing down the left side as the Stars struggled to get the puck out of their own end with the man advantage.
“It was a lucky bounce, honestly,” Pufahl said. “The guy turned to face the boards and I took the inside. I was glad the puck didn’t bounce over my stick or it would have been a 4-on-1 the other way. I kind of chucked my head, looked up at the last second, saw what was open and tried to go for it.”
Borody’s goal, his fifth of the season, came on a deflection of a Jack Cook shot from just inside the North Stars blue-line, a crowd in front of Marks screening his view.
Thunder Bay, who have dropped three straight, got one back 37 seconds into the third, Weeks scoring while falling, going high on Vanska’s glove side. But it was as close at the North Stars would get. Max Leduc and Kyle Lamoureux, with the Fighting Walleye on a 5-on-3, added to the Kam River lead, Thunder Bay finishing the contest down a man or two for most of the final eight minutes, assessed a pair of double minors.
It was a tough one, said DeGagne, his team winless in six outings against Kam River this season.
“We had 13 players. I’ve got eight 20-year-olds. One’s a goalie and didn’t play and four are injured. I’ve got three 20-year-olds and three kids that can still be playing midget hockey playing tonight,” DeGagne said.
“Did we play bad? No, I thought we played good in the first period, and we had maybe a five-minute lull in the second and maybe we kind of ran out of gas in the third. We’ll get everybody back. We’re not panicking. We just have to get a win at the right time.”
Thunder Bay (17-16-4) returns home Friday and Saturday night for games against Red Lake (20-14-1). Kam River (30-7-1) travels to Dryden (28-10-1), with first place on the line.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Kam River, D. Lang (Morrison, Bell) 13:29. 2. Thunder Bay, Fuchs 7 (Weeks) 17:19. Penalties: None.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring. 3. Kam River, Puhfal (unassisted) 12:46. 4. Kam River, Borody 5 (Duchesne, Cook) 13:28. Penalties: Morton KRW (slashing) 11:12, Oviedo KRW (interference) 16:18.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 5. Thunder Bay, Weeks 18 (Campbell, Halushak) 0:23. 6. Kam River, Leduc 11 (Dunmore, Doucette) 4:13. 7. Kam River, Lamoureux 2 (Cook, Doucette) 15:11 pp. Penalties: Halushak TB (cross checking), 10:19, Kramps KRW (boarding) 11:34, Desjardins TB (slashing) 12:05, Glousher TB (high sticking double minor) 14:18, Halushak TB (slew-footing double minor) 15:11, Borody KRW (high sticking) 17:50.
GAME DATA – SOG – Thunder Bay 15-11-8-34, Kam River 16-16-19-51; Power plays (goals-chances) – Thunder Bay (0-3), Kam River (1-4); Goaltenders – Thunder Bay: Keenan Marks, Kam River: Eric Vanska. A: 470.
