SUPERIOR INTERNATIONAL JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
SIJHL MEDIA UPDATE
Release Date: Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016
Photo credit: Gary Moskalyk, The Chronicle-Journal
North Stars dumped by Norskies
THUNDER BAY, Ont. – The Thief River Falls Norskies got a goal and three assists from both Alec Daman and Connor Shuster to help them upset the Superior International Junior Hockey League-leading Thunder Bay North Stars 6-1 Sunday afternoon at the Fort William Gardens.
It was all Norskies in the opening period as they tallied three times to chase North Stars starter Dan Demaria before the contest was 16 minutes old.
Jack Dunnell’s first SIJHL marker put the visitors in front at 6:18 while Mitchell Soderberg made it 2-0 just over five and a half minutes later.
Demaria’s day then came to an early end at 15:48 as Connor Smith notched his team-best seventh of season, which saw Thunder Bay send in Nathaniel Dupuis to play goal the rest of the way.
It stayed 3-0 Thief River Falls into the third period where they tacked on three more before the final frame was half way done on efforts supplied by Blair Lindholm, Schuster and Daman.
The North Stars John Parrott would dash Norskies’ netminder Ryan Buttazzoni’s shutout bid with 47 seconds remaining as he connected on a later power play to round out the scoring.
Buttazzoni did finish with 33 saves to record the win helping his club improve to 3-4-0-1 on the season.
Demaria suffered the loss for Thunder Bay allowing the three against on eight attempts while Dupuis stopped 16 of 19 in nearly 44 minutes of relief.
With the loss, the North Stars fell to 8-3-1-0.
The SIJHL’s leading scorer, in Nicholas Nigro, also saw a 13-game point streak come to an end in the setback.