Thunder swept by North Stars

The Borderland Thunder’s season came to a crashing halt here over the weekend, suffering 13-2 and 7-0 losses to be swept in the best-of-seven SIJHL final to the Fort William First Nation North Stars.
The North Stars, the defending SIJHL champs who had garnered a remarkable 42-2-4 record during the regular season, routed the Thunder in Game 3 of what was a must-win for the hosts after they dropped the first two games of the series in Thunder Bay.
“The bottom line is that a lot of our guys, who we expect to step up, didn’t step up,” Thunder head coach Dave Allison said after the team had suffered its worst loss in franchise history.
“Does that detract from what they’ve done the whole year, though? No,” he stressed.
“It’s embarrassing. It’s a big game and we needed to win it, but instead we just came out and bombed,” echoed Thunder captain Kurt Hogard.
Aaron Boyer scored twice, with Riley Dudar and Dennis Morrison notching two assists each, but that was the lone bright spot for the Thunder.
“They scored on almost every turnover we had,” said Dudar. “We just have to play our game and play what Dave is telling us to do, and hold the guys on the boards and get the pucks out of our end and not turn it over.”
“You always have a chance, but it’s not about winning the series, it’s about how people are going to remember this year’s edition,” said Allison.
“Are they going to remember you for a 13-2 loss? Or are they going to remember you as battling until the very end?
“And I would choose battling until the very end,” Allison replied.
The North Stars then closed out the series with a 7-0 win in Game 4 on Saturday night, earning them a ticket to Georgetown for the Dudley Hewitt Cup at the end of the month.
“The North Stars came to work every shift and against a team that is so skilled like that you can’t take even one shift off,” said Boyer, who had played his last game in the junior ranks.
A melancholy feeling came from the Thunder’s dressing room after the season-ending loss. And just from their body language, a casual observer could see how disappointed the players were.
“It hurts. I saw other guys go through it [last year after losing to Dryden in the playoffs] and you don’t really know what it’s like until it’s you,” said Josh McAndrew.
“It just sucks and I can’t even describe how brutal this feels,” he added.