By Gary Moskalyk
Game 1 March 23, Thunder Bay 4 Red Lake 1
Thunder Bay took a 1-0 series lead at Fort William Gardens with 570 fans looking on.
Magnus Pearson registered a first period pair and Nikolas Campbell tucked one in on Jack Osmond in between Pearson’s efforts for a 3-0 North Stars lead through 20.
EJ Paddington assisted on all three. Paddington sprung Pearson loose at 3:00 minutes of the first and the rookie forward found his way onto the score sheet.
Pearson’s backhander at 13:11 put the Stars up 3-0.
Quintyn Sidaway narrowed the gap at 14:19 of the second with a wrister from the point on a Miners’ powerplay.
Mason Wesley added an insurance marker at 12:47 of the third. Nolan Desjardins’ fed Wesley in full flight, and the veteran controlled the disk and sent it past Osmond.
Red Lake was 1-2 on the powerplay while Thunder Bay was 0-2.
Conner Lemieux turned aside 37 shots for the win. Osmond was pelted with 47 shots.
Only six minor penalties were called by Tim Vaillant and Adam Blando–three per team. Attendance was 570.
Game 2 March 24, Thunder Bay 4 Red Lake 3
The Stars took a 2-0 series lead Friday night before 625 fans at the Gardens.
EJ Paddington’s glove side snipe at 19 seconds of the third period was the game winner.
Red Lake had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 but couldn’t hold on as the Stars went ahead 3-2 after 20 minutes.
Quintyn Sidaway deflected Mason Mowat’s shot for the game’s first score on a Miners’ powerplay. Nikolas Campbell’s second of the series on a North Stars’ powerplay tied it up.
Sidaway’s third goal of the series–a long wrister from the point–eluded Conner Lemieux to put the Miners ahead. Mason Wesley went post and in at 17:20 and Colby Feist’s glove side snipe 51 seconds later gave Thunder Bay a 3-2 edge.
Miners’ head coach Kevin Walker pulled starter Jack Osmond for Trent Boryszczuk after Feist’s goal.
It was Red Lake’s turn to tie it up. Kaelen Veldman corralled a loose puck on Lemieux’ doorstep at 2:11 of the middle frame to knot the score.
Paddington’s goal early in the third held up. Boryszczuk was pulled at 18:09 of the third but Red Lake couldn’t find the equalizer.
Game two had a lot more bite than game one. The Stars took 37 of 61 penalty minutes. Thunder Bay was able to kill off Matthew Halushak’s five-minute major. Jacob Lamoureux, on the receiving end of Halushak’s hit, returned later in the game.
Both teams were 1-5 on the powerplay. Lemieux garnered his second playoff win stopping 30 shots. Osmond made 11 saves, and Boryszczuk was 17 -18 in relief, absorbing the loss.
Game 3 March 27, Thunder Bay 4 Red Lake 5
Jacob Lamoureux scored his second goal of the game from behind the net at 2:49 of overtime as the Miners defeated the North Stars 5-4 in Red Lake. The Stars came perilously close to putting a three-nothing stranglehold on the series when Skillestad scored with 14 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at four-all.
Easton Glousher opened the scoring at 2:42 of the first going top shelf on Miners’ starter Trent Boryszczuk. Matthew Macpherson converted a rebound past Conner Lemieux to tie it up just over a minute later.
The lead exchanged hands in a five-goal second period. Quintyn Sidaway notched his 4th of the playoffs on a powerplay shot from the point that changed direction on the way to the North Stars’ cage. Edison Weeks was credited with the tying goal. Nikolas Campbell’s slap shot from the point sailed in on a Thunder Bay powerplay for a 3-2 Stars’ lead.
Lamoureux tied it up, and Luke Decorby ripped a shot from close range to give Red Lake a 4-3 edge.
Skillestad’s third period wrist shot beat Boryszczuk glove side with Lemieux pulled and both teams in scramble mode.
The teams exchanged three shots each in overtime. Lamoureux bounced a puck off Lemieux’ pads from behind the net to extend the series to at least five games.
Thunder Bay outshot the Miners 47-38. Glousher collected two goals for the Stars and Garren Voisey had two assists. Notably, captain Matt Halushak was serving his two-game suspension. He’ll be back for game five.
Lamoureux’ two goals led the Miners’ attack. Macpherson added a helper and Riley See had two assists.
A pair of spirited fights punctuated a 56-penalty minute affair. Attendance was not announced.
Game 4 March 28, Thunder Bay 6 Red Lake 2
Thunder Bay scored three unanswered third period goals en route to a 6-2 win over Red Lake at Cochenour Arena. Nolan Desjardins notched a pair in the third for his first goals of the playoffs, both assisted on by Magnus Pearson (his first two assists). Keenan Marks turned aside 40 of 42 for his first win in the second season.
Ty Woodard’s wrister from the point on a Red Lake power play opened the scoring at 13:48 of the first. Jamie Fuchs buried Nikolas Campbell’s back pass two minutes later to tie it.
Thunder Bay took a 3-2 lead after two periods.
Easton Glousher gained a step at the Red Lake blue-line and beat starter Trent Boryszczuk for his third playoff goal at 5:30 of the second. Colton Crysler went over Marks’ shoulder at 16:44 to knot the score. Thirty seconds later EJ Paddington went five-hole on Boryszczuk for a 3-2 North Stars lead.
Jack Osmond came on in relief of Boryszczuk at that point.
Thunder Bay scored three goals in a 2:43 span in the third period to salt it away.
Edison Weeks stole the puck in the Red Lake zone scoring his 2nd of the playoffs
at 4:37. Nolan Desjardins scored his first of two just 24 seconds later on a sharp angle snipe and then tallied 2:09 later for the convincing win.
Nikolas Campbell added a pair of assists for Thunder Bay.
Boryszczuk saved 24 of 27 and took the loss for Red Lake. Osmond made 11 saves on the 14 shots he faced.
EJ Paddington for Thunder Bay and Luke Decorby for Red Lake squared off at 5:12 of the third, and Dimitri Trahiotis and former teammate Jonah DesRosiers tangled at 17:08. Thunder Bay was tagged for 32 of the 48 penalty minutes meted out.
Game 5 March 30, Thunder Bay 6 Red Lake 0
Keenan Marks recorded a 50-save shutout as the North Stars defeated Red Lake 6-0 to end their series in five games.
With Matthew Halushak and Colby Feist back in the fold and, most notably, with Marks getting the start in net and standing on his head, the Stars now prepare for the semi-finals, their opponent still up in the air. The reigning SIJHL Champion Miners look to next year after a so-so season.
Thunder Bay scored four in the first on Red Lake’s Jake Osmond.
Edison Weeks snuck one through the pads at 1:29. Nolan Desjardins fired one off Osmond’s glove that eventually touched down behind the goal line at 6:22. Just 48 seconds later EJ Paddington slid in a backhander and Nikolas Campbell went high blocker side at 14:29 for the 4-0 lead.
Stars head coach Rob DeGagne called an unusual early second period timeout to fire up the troops.
Mason Wesley sniped below the cross bar at 17:34 of the second on an unassisted effort.
The first five Thunder Bay scorers all scored their third goals of the playoffs.
Dimitri Trahiotis tucked in a rebound at 14:50 on a North Stars powerplay to close out the scoring.
Wesley and Trahiotis both had assists for two-point nights. Osmond ended up with 35 saves in 41 shots.
After two quiet periods both teams ramped up the physicality. The Stars ended the contest with 29 penalty minutes, while Red Lake had 15.
Red Lake was 0-7 with the man advantage. Thunder Bay was 1-5.
The game attracted 562 fans.
The North Stars advance in 5 and take on the Dryden GM Ice Dogs in the 2nd round.