SUPERIOR INTERNATIONAL JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
SIJHL MEDIA UPDATE
Release Date: Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017
Buttazzoni stops 47 as Norskies nip North Stars
THIEF RIVER FALLS, Minn. – The Thief River Falls Norskies got 47 saves from goaltender Ryan Buttazzoni along with two goals and an assist from Alec Daman to help them defeat the Thunder Bay North Stars 6-4 Wednesday evening in Superior International Junior Hockey League play at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
Tommy Stang put the Norskies in front 8:21 into the contest only to see Austin Storm tie it for the North Stars 44 seconds later.
Thief River Falls would get that back late in the frame thanks to Connor Smith’s 167th of the season at 18:51.
Brad Thrower tied it for Thunder Bay 2:47 into the middle stanza, but Dylan Dix, with his first SIJHL tally, and Daman connected less than a minute apart midway through the session to make it 4-2 Norskies.
The North Stars John Parrott and Thief River Falls’ Daman traded markers later in the stanza to put the score at 5-3 heading into the third.
Storm’s second of the night brought the visitors back to within one 3:35 into the final session, but Michael Johnson iced it for the Norskies with an empty netter with seven seconds left to wrap things up.
Cody Aarvig, Reily McIntosh and Stang each dished out two assists each to aid the winner’s cause while Aaron Balcombe had a couple helpers for the Stars.
Nathaniel Dupuis faced 31 shots in defeat for Thunder Bay.