SUPERIOR INTERNATIONAL JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
SIJHL MEDIA UPDATE
Release Date: Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017
Photo credit: Leith Dunick, tbnewswatch.com
Fort Frances completes home-and-home sweep of Thunder Bay
THUNDER BAY, Ont. – The Fort Frances Lakers got a goal and three assists from Jared Virtanen to help them rally past the Thunder Bay North Stars 5-4 in Superior International Junior Hockey League action Tuesday evening at the Fort William Gardens.
After falling to the Lakers 3-2 in overtime Monday afternoon at Ice for Kids Arena, the North Stars got the early jump in this contest with Nicholas Nigro opening the scoring 3:43 into the contest.
Nigro then notched his second of night and 30th of the season 47 seconds into the middle stanza to put the home side up a pair.
Fort Frances regrouped before the session was complete to knot the affair at 2-2 with Julian Uhryniuk picking up his eighth at 4:37 while Dylan Kooner notched the equalizer 10 minutes later.
It was the Lakers turn to strike quickly in the third and go in front as Kooner added another as he too reached the 30-goal plateau on the campaign just 44 seconds into the frame.
Virtanen then added to the visitors cushion midway through period to put them up by two.
The back-and-forth affair saw Jonathon Masters of Thunder Bay and Matt Tustin of Fort Frances trade tallies a shift apart to make it 5-3.
Masters brought the North Stars closer once again with 2:42 remaining in regulation, but that’s as near as they would get before time expired.
Brandon Zajicek had a pair of assists for the Fort while Brad Thrower had a trio of helpers for the Stars.
Brandon Bodnar made 35 saves to record the victory for the Lakers who extended a modest winning streak to three in the process.
Jordan Elliot faced 23 shots in defeat for Thunder Bay.