Staff
A month ago, the thought of a Fort Frances Lakers-Thunder Bay North Stars first-round playoff matchup would have been preposterous.
Now it’s getting ever so close to becoming a reality–and the Lakers may have gone from seeing “Stars” earlier in the season to wishing on them.
Matt Tustin and Dylan Kooner each had two power-play goals as the Lakers used a 5-for-6 night with the man advantage to overpower the host North Stars 8-5 in the first game of a back-to-back showdown last night.
The rematch is set for tonight in Thunder Bay.
The North Stars (29-17-6) cling to second place in the SIJHL with 64 points–only two ahead of the third-place English River Miners (29-20-103) and the fourth-place Thief River Falls Norskies (28-19-2-3).
If Thunder Bay continues its recent skid (3-4-3 in its last 10 games), and gets passed by the Miners and Norskies in the standings, that means the North Stars will be in the best-of-five “Survivor Series” playoff opener against the fifth-place Lakers (24-23-2-4).
While Thunder Bay owned the first half of the season series with seven-straight wins, the Lakers have controlled the recent outcomes–now winning three-straight and four of their past five against the North Stars.
Tustin, Kooner, and Jaden Gustafson made it 3-0 in the first period before the Lakers gave it all back before the middle stanza was five minutes old.
Nicholas Nigro, former Laker Aaron Wesley-Chisel, and Avery Siau all lit the lamp to tie things up.
Sticking with the scoring in threes theme, the Lakers responded with another flurry as Ian Jarvis netted the first of his two goals at 14:14.
Tustin and Kooner then scored 48 seconds apart in the final two minutes for a 6-3 lead.
Jarvis tacked on his second just over halfway through the third before Tyler Malpass (power play) scored at 16:03 in between markers by Brad Thrower and a power-play tally from Siau with 47 seconds to go.
Jessie Heisz earned the win in goal, with Midget call-up Jesse Quesnel serving as his backup with Brandon Bodnar injured.
After tonight’s game, the Lakers return home to face those same North Stars this Tuesday (March 14) at 7:30 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
