Staff
One of the SIJHL’s best scorers cooled off the league’s hottest team.
Nicholas Nigro had two goals and an assist last night as the host Thunder Bay North Stars snapped the Fort Frances Lakers’ five-game winning streak with a 5-3 victory.
With the loss, combined with Thief River Falls’ 5-1 win over the Minnesota Iron Rangers, the Lakers (7-9-1-2) fell four points behind the fourth-place Norskies (9-10-0-3) although they do hold three games in hand.
Nigro, tied with Sidney Gladue of the English River Miners for the SIJHL scoring lead with 33 points, beat Dakota Delbridge just 17 seconds into the game.
Jared Virtanen responded quickly for the Lakers just 14 seconds later before Ryan Walsh collected the first of three-straight goals for the North Stars (16-5-2) at 10:14.
Troy Sherman and Brad Arabia boosted the lead with goals five minutes apart in the second.
Arabia’s marker at 11:37 spelled the end of the night for Delbridge, who was replaced by Brandon Bodnar.
The goalie change woke the Lakers up, with Virtanen tallying his second of the night just 1:16 later to cut the lead to 4-2.
Forward Austin Petrie made his mark in his Lakers’ debut by bulging the twine 35 seconds into the third.
Nigro notched an empty-netter with 41 seconds left to seal the victory.
Nathaniel Dupuis earned the win in goal for the North Stars, who have beaten the Lakers in all five meetings so far this season.
After three-straight road games, the Lakers return home tomorrow night to face the second-place Dryden GM Ice Dogs (14-3-3) at 7:30 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
