Thunder out to prove their mettle Face road battle with North Stars

The Borderland Thunder will be in Thunder Bay tonight and tomorrow as they look to prove to themselves—and to the rest of the SIJHL—that they deserve to be in first place.
That test will come against the undefeated Fort William First Nation North Stars, who sit in second place with a 10-0-1 record behind the Thunder (12-1-1).
The teams battled to a 1-1 tie in overtime there to open the 2004-05 season.
“That’s the biggest thing. Everyone says, ‘Oh, they’re first, but the North Stars are this and that,’” remarked Andrew Dault when asked if this weekend series with Fort William will help prove to people that the Thunder belong in top spot.
“I’m sure they’ve improved, but we’ve also improved and I think it’s going to be a great challenge and hopefully we’ll get her done,” Dault added.
With the season now one-quarter done, it’s clear the Thunder and North Stars are the class of the SIJHL as the other three teams all sport losing records.
The Thunder have been eagerly awaiting the rematch since their season-opening draw.
“Everyone on the team has been looking at the schedule since the beginning of the season saying, ‘When do we play the North Stars?’ It’s the key match-up in the league, so it’s going to be a blast,” noted Aaron Boyer, who is second in the SIJHL with 11 goals and 11 assists in 14 games.
He trails his teammate Josh McAndrew, the Thunder captain, who has 10 goals and 16 assists over that span.
Dennis Morrison is third on the team in scoring with six goals and 12 assists in 13 games, but those numbers won’t rise drastically because of his switch to the blue line after being on the top line alongside McAndrew and Boyer.
The move came as a result of a number of injuries to the Thunder’s defensive corps, including David Gooch, who is back after an MRI revealed he only had arthritis and not a problem with his meniscus, and Clayton Windigo, who remains out due to a concussion suffered earlier in the season.
“We got a big test [this week] against the North Stars, and I think everybody in the whole league has been looking forward to [these] two games and we can’t go in there coasting,” warned Thunder head coach Dave Allison.
“We’ve got to go in there and dictate the pace and how the game’s going to be played,” he stressed.