Thunder out for payback

The top two teams in the SIJHL will go head-to-head tonight and tomorrow as the Borderland Thunder host the Fort William First Nation North Stars at the Ice for Kids Arena.
The Thunder—in second place with a 15-3-1 record—will be looking at avenge 9-1 and 9-0 losses to the front-running the North Stars (16-0-1) in Thunder Bay last month.
The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. tonight while Saturday’s game will start at 5 p.m. This marks the North Stars’ first trip to Fort Frances this season.
“[The North Stars] have got more skill,” Thunder head coach Dave Allison admitted after the team’s 4-2 win over the Dryden Ice Dogs here Tuesday night.
“They’ve got more experience, so you have to be willing to play harder together as a team and it can be done,” he added.
The Thunder, currently riding a three-game winning streak, opened the season with a 1-1 overtime tie against the host North Stars back in October, but then suffered lopsided losses there last month.
The North Stars have scored 123 goals so far this season (7.2 per game) while only allowing 21 goals (1.2 per game). The Thunder, meanwhile, have notched 77 goals (4.0 per game) and allowed 46 (2.42 per game).
“We’ve got to be selective because we can’t give them uneven rushes and we can’t give them power plays,” Allison stressed.
“You’ve got to play the game whistle to whistle, five on five. It’s going to be as much mental as it is physical,” he added.
Over the three games the two teams have played each other so far, the North Stars have averaged 38 shots on goal while the Thunder have averaged just 21.