Jamie Mountain
It was good while it lasted.
The Thunder Bay North Stars survived two separate comebacks by the Fort Frances Lakers in escaping with a 5-4 victory Saturday night at the Ice For Kids Arena that snapped the hosts’ four-game winning streak.
Thunder Bay jumped out to a quick start–grabbing a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Alexander Erwin (9:58) and Turner Santin (15:36).
The North Stars then made it 3-0 early in the second on rookie Keighan Gerrie’s 14th marker of the season.
Ian Jarvis finally gave the Lakers some life when he struck short-handed at 8:46, firing a beautiful shot top-shelf on former Lakers’ goalie Brandon Bodnar to trim it to 3-1.
Jack Bernie added an even-strength goal just 34 seconds later to make it a one-goal deficit.
The Lakers kept coming and pressured the North Stars into taking two-straight penalties.
Defenceman Jack Dunnell eventually made them pay–blasting a shot Bodnar had no chance on to knot the score 3-3 at 13:03.
Jake Behse put the North Stars back on top just 40 seconds into the third period but Jarvis notched his second of the night at 5:31 to tie things up once more at 4-4.
Alex Maticic then beat a dejected Brett Akins midway through the frame to give Thunder Bay the lead again.
Despite pulling Akins late for the extra attacker, the Lakers couldn’t net the equalizer.
Bodnar earned the win, finishing with 37 saves.
Akins made 29 stops in taking the loss in his second-start start for the Lakers.
Shots on goal favoured the Lakers by a 41-34 margin.
Fort Frances went 1-for-4 with the man-advantage while Thunder Bay went 0-for-2.
The fifth-place Lakers (10-21-1-3) are back in action tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. when they host the first-place Thief River Falls Norskies (29-4-0-1) at the Ice For Kids Arena.
Then they’ll host the third-place North Stars (21-11-3-0) again this Friday at 7:30 p.m. before capping the week Saturday in Thief River Falls.
The Lakers then will host the SIJHL’s annual “Showcase” next Tuesday and Wednesday (Jan. 30-31).
The Dryden GM Ice Dogs (26-3-5-1) currently sit in second place with 58 points while the English River Miners (14-15-0-4) are in fourth with 32–eight up on the Lakers.
The Minnesota Iron Rangers (3-28-1-2) remain in the league basement with just nine points.
