Thunder swept by North Stars

The Borderland Thunder will be gunning for revenge here this weekend when the Fort William First Nations North Stars invade the Ice for Kids Arena for another two-game series.
Last weekend, the visiting North Stars swept a pair of games from the Thunder, winning 6-3 on Friday night and then 4-3 in overtime on Saturday.
But in a bizarre scheduling twist, the North Stars are right back in town again this weekend, with the opener slated for 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The finale is a rare Sunday night game, with the puck again dropping at 7:30.
The defending SIJHL champs currently sit in fourth place in the standings with 31 points—one behind than the KC Bulldogs. But the Thunder also have played three less games than the Thunder Bay squad.
The North Stars, meanwhile, are trying to catch the first-place Dryden Ice Dogs, who lead the way with 56 points—two better than Fort William though having played two more games.
The K&A Variety Golden Hawks round out the standings with just nine points in 37 games.
The North Stars blew open a close contest here last Friday night, scoring four goals in the third period to ice the 6-3 win.
Fort William opened the scoring at 8:29 of the first when Cory Bruno, assisted by Mike Krelove and Steve Atkins, beat Thunder goalie Dan Hoehne.
But less than four minutes later with the Thunder on the power play, Kevin Webb netted his 22nd goal of the season—from David Gooch and Cale David—to even the score at 1-1.
Borderland grabbed the lead at 7:49 of the second when Sean Councillor tallied his sixth of the campaign, with Kyle Schroder and Ryan Mayman drawing assists.
Then Tom Grant, assisted by Keith Lawrence and Mike Greaves, knotted the game at 2-2 with less than two minutes to play in the period.
Matt Miller put the North Stars back in front with his 17th of the season at 5:52 of the third. Greaves drew his second assist of the night while Grant got the other.
But the Thunder roared back as Clayton Windigo beat North Stars’ goalie Jean-Frederick Beaudoin for his third of the season at the 7:45 mark to make the score 3-3.
Webb and Mayman assisted on the play.
It was all Fort William after that. Brent Greene made it 4-3 at 9:21 before Atkins, with his 24th of the campaign, beat Hoehne at 12:18 to give the visitors a two-goal margin.
Grant (with his second of the game) added an insurance tally at 16:05 to round out the scoring.
Hoehne took the loss, making 25 saves on 31 shots. Beaudoin earned the win with 18 saves on just 21 shots by the Thunder.
After spotting Fort William a 1-0 lead in the first period Saturday night on Atkins’ goal, Dennis Morrison tallied twice—at 9:37 and then on the power play at 11:48—to give the Thunder the 2-1 lead at intermission.
Andrew Dault set up Morrison’s first goal, with Rob Scales and Kurt Hogard assisting on his second one.
Miller tied the game at 2-2 just 1:11 into the second period when he beat Hoehne, assisted by Kory McEwan and Greene, but Morrison completed his hat trick with a power-play marker at 18:29.
Ian Lockman assisted on that one.
The Thunder almost pulled out the 3-2 win but Atkins—with his second of the night—got the equalizer (unassisted) with just 1:02 left in regulation time to send the game to the extra frame.
The North Stars then ended it just 1:32 in when McEwan, from Ryan Baird and Albert Kavanaugh, netted the game-winner.
Beaudoin once again earned the win between the pipes, stopping 23 of the 26 shots fired his way while Hoehne took the loss after facing 39 shots by the North Stars.
After this weekend’s re-match with Fort William, the Thunder will host the Ice Dogs next Tuesday (Feb. 3) at 7:30 p.m., then head to Dryden on the following Wednesday (Feb. 11) for a return engagement.