RED LAKE, Ont. – The Thunder Bay North Stars trio of Ben Erwin, Michael Vecchio and Enrico Bozac collected three points apiece helping them go to defeat the Red Lake Miners 5-2 Friday evening in a Superior International Junior Hockey League meeting at Cochenour Arena.
Vecchio got the North Stars going five minutes into the contest with help from Erwin and Bozac.
Erwin then put the visitors up by a pair later in the first as he notched his seventh of the season.
Red Lake cut into the deficit late in the frame when Shaye Sommerfeld fired a pass over to a hard-charging Ryan Patterson driving to the Thunder Bay where he jammed in his fourth of the campaign.
After a scoreless middle session, Erwin and Jacob Brown scored less than a minute apart in the third to make it 4-1.
The Miners drew closer at 16:05 when Mike Iatridis lofted one from the left point that found its way through North Stars starter Seth McKay.
On the power play late in regulation and with goaltender Samuel Gendron out for an additional skater, Bozac intercepted a Red Lake pass and launched one the length of the ice into an empty net to round out the scoring.
McKay finished with 29 saves to record the win while Gendron allowed four on 34 attempts in defeat.
The same two teams meet again Saturday back at Cochenour Arena in another 7 p.m. start.
Photo credit: Patrick Boucha