HOYT LAKES, Minn. – Ryan Mignault had four points, including converting on a second period penalty shot, to send the suddenly-soaring Thunder Bay North Stars to a second consecutive high-scoring road performance as they slammed the Minnesota Iron Rangers 10-3 in a Superior International Junior Hockey League contest Saturday at Hoyt Lakes Arena.
After sinking the Fort Frances Lakers 9-0 Friday, Thunder Bay continued their offensive ways on this night by reaching double digits in this one while winning their fourth straight contest.
Mignault set-up both Avery Siau and Bradley Thrower to put the North Stars up 2-0 before the contest was eight minutes.
Mark Sanchez got one back for Minnesota at 8:20 only to see the visitors respond with markers from Keighan Gerrie and Owen Belisle to go up 4-1 after one.
Thunder Bay then broke it open in the middle stanza, outscoring the Iron Rangers 5-0 in the session that featured a Mignault tallying twice, highlighted by his clicking on his penalty shot attempt 11 seconds in.
Gerrie, Carson Smith and Brendan Gillis also connected for the North Stars in the period.
The final frame saw Sanchez and Zac Horn score for Minnesota before Alexander Erwin rounded out the scoring for Thunder Bay in the latter stages of the contest.
Alex Maticic dished out three assists for the North Stars as he and nine other teammates had multi-point nights in the romp.
Thunder Bay outshot Minnesota 46-16 on the evening with Dougie Newhouse picking up the win and Jackson Nelson the loss.
The same two teams meet again Sunday at 5 p.m. back in Hoyt Lakes.