Thunder preparing to host North Stars

Coulda-woulda-shouda.
These three words may have been used to distinguish a popular “Sex in the City” episode, but they also can describe the Borderland Thunder’s performance in Thunder Bay last weekend.
Sure, they won two of the three games, but against inferior competition they coulda-woulda-shouda played much better. And, of late, the team always seems to instill a soap-opera element into every game they enter.
You just don’t know what you’re going to get.
On Friday night against the dead-last KC Bulldogs, who entered the game with only one win in 25 tries, the second-place Thunder fired 41 shots but still lost 3-2 even despite leading 2-0.
Kurt Hogard and Brock Harling had given the Thunder the early lead. Tyler Gordon took the loss in goal to drop his record to 15-4-2.
While the Thunder followed that with a 4-3 win Saturday, thanks to two goals by Scott Bridgeman and singles from Tyler Barker and Aaron Boyer, that’s like saying Michael Jordan beat a 16-year-old in a one-on-one showdown—it’s not only expected, but it’s expected to be convincing.
But the Thunder have not been convincing.
Although their 6-2 victory over the K&A Variety Golden Hawks on Sunday left them with a 24-5-2 record (Ryan Mayman, Dennis Morrison, Morgan Cekalla, Brock Harling, Clayton Windigo, and Boyer had the goals while Kevin Kauk earned his second-straight win in goal), they have not been beating opponents by scores of 7-1 and 9-0 like they were at the beginning of the season when they were unbeaten in 12 games.
“We’re a team that wants these kids to play at higher levels and the only way to play at a higher level is to understand some structure,” Thunder head coach Dave Allison had said after their 3-3 tie against the Golden Hawks two weekends ago.
“That’s how Canada played,” Allison added, referring to Team Canada’s dominant performance at the recent world junior hockey championships.
“We’re trying to incorporate some of that structure into what these guys are doing, where if they go on to a higher level, then it’s not foreign to them and they don’t have to learn it all over again,” he stressed.
The Thunder no doubt will have to implement some of that “structure” this weekend as the first-place Fort William First Nation North Stars (27-1-1) come to town for a pair of games Friday and Saturday.
The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. both nights at the Ice for Kids Arena.
The Thunder earned a split the last time these two teams clashed in a series, winning the series opener 7-3 before losing the next game 6-2.
Borderland is 1-3-1 so far this season against the North Stars.
“We’re trying to win, but we’re trying to give the kids an education in how they can play at a higher level,” said Allison.
“People sometimes forget that to win there is a process to go through,” he added. “We don’t go out and try to win a hockey game, we set out to do enough things well where we’ll put ourselves in a position to win.”