THUNDER BAY, Ont. – The suddenly surging Thunder Bay North Stars rode the strength of a five-goal second period to help them defeat the Minnesota Iron Rangers 8-2 Friday evening in a Superior International Junior Hockey League encounter at the Fort William Gardens.
Carter Pellerin collected the lone tally of the opening 20 minutes for Thunder Bay as he finished off an Owen Belisle feed at 16:17.
The North Stars then soared in the middle stanza tacking on five in a 17-minute span to take control of the contest.
Brendan Gillis started the offensive barrage 1:47 before teammate Belisle made it 3-0 just 41 seconds later.
Thunder Bay kept coming and picked up markers from Shayne McKay, Keighan Gerrie and Troy Sherman, on a power play, to make it 6-0 after two periods of play.
A Ryan Mignault man advantage marker extended the lead early in the third before Minnesota got on the board thanks to a Zach Hayes effort at 6:02.
Hayes added another for the Iron Rangers eight minutes with his side up a man and he notched his ninth goal of the season.
Dillon Ward’s 10th rounded out the scoring for the home side.
Belisle, Alex Maticic and Joe Newhouse all had two assist nights for the winners as did Zac Horn for the visitors.
Thunder Bay outshot Minnesota 54-19 on the night with Dougie Newhouse picking up the win while Tyler Thompson made 46 stops in the loss for the Iron Rangers.
Photo credit: Leith Dunick, tbnewswatch.com