FORT FRANCES, Ont. – The home town Fort Frances Lakers stormed back from an early three-goal deficit to upend the Superior International Junior Hockey League-leading Thunder Bay North Stars 6-5 in overtime Friday at Ice for Kids Arena.
It looked like it was going to be an easy night for first place Thunder Bay as they skated out to a 3-0 cushion after one period of play on markers from Logan Mihalcin, Jacob Brown and Cody Bruchkowski.
However, the second stanza was all Fort Frances as they countered with a trio of tallies of their own courtesy of Nick Hahkala, Stone Stelzl and Noah Loveday to level the proceedings at 3-3.
Third period play saw Flynn Perry put the Lakers in front 51 seconds into the session as they took the lead.
Dawson Lampi tied it for the North Stars then teammate Jacob Brown connected on the power play with just over five minutes remaining in regulation to put the visitors back on top.
Continuing to battle, Fort Frances forced extra time at 17:04 on Perry’s second of the frame.
In OT, the Lakers completed the comeback at 4:15 when captain Loveday won it with his team-leading ninth of the season.
Shots on goal also favoured the home side by a 38-36 margin that saw Alex Bugeja pick up the win while Jordan Smith suffered the OT setback with his side picking up a point in defeat.
Photo credit: Clint Bruyere