Thunder split with North Stars

It took the Borderland Thunder 11 tries to beat the Fort William North Stars last season. This year, it took them just four after a 7-3 victory here Friday night.
But the North Stars avenged the loss with a 6-2 win on Saturday to remain atop the SIJHL standings with a 17-1-1 record—just ahead of the second-place Thunder (17-4-1).
“You know what? We did a lot more things to help each other today [Friday], and those are the things that build and that’s what makes [the North Stars] such a good team,” said Thunder head coach Dave Allison.
The North Stars scored on their first shot on Thunder goalie Tyler Gordon, but Andrew Dault tallied on a shorthanded breakaway to even things at 1-1 after the first period.
The second period saw the North Stars take advantage of a two-man power-play early, but Bridgeman answered three minutes later with a 30-foot screened wrist shot, assisted by Tyler Barker.
The Thunder then started to implement their pre-game strategy of “patience with pace,” which rattled the North Stars, who amassed 14 minutes in penalties in the second period alone.
And it was on the power play when Dault scored from the slot with 10 minutes left in the period, on a nice setup from Josh McAndrew and Aaron Boyer, to put the Thunder up 3-2.
The Thunder went up 5-2 in the first half of the third period on goals by Bridgeman (unassisted) and Clayton Windigo (Riley Dudar/Dault).
The North Stars scored shortly after, but two more Thunder goals from Boyer (Barker/Kurt Hogard) and defenceman David Gooch—on a breakaway—sealed the win.
Both teams had 45 shots on goal.
“We sort of saw that if we play a certain style that we’d by okay,” said Allison. “Match patience with pace, patience with pace.”
“We just wanted to show them that when they beat us, it was more of a fluke,” added Gooch, referring to 9-1 and 9-0 losses to the North Stars on the road last month.
“We went in there and we didn’t play our game, [but] tonight we went out there and showed them what we have,” he remarked.
But the Thunder weren’t able complete the sweep Saturday as the North Stars rang up three goals in the second period en route to a 6-2 victory.
Saturday’s game featured undisciplined play as the North Stars amassed 37 minutes worth of penalties and three game misconducts while the Thunder had 48 minutes and four game misconducts.
“We can’t let the referees get us off our game, number one, and the other thing is that we’ve got to get better in our own zone because [the North Stars] give and go and we just couldn’t handle them,” said Allison.
The Thunder, who got their goals from Barker (Bridgeman/Boyer) and Dennis Morrison (unassisted), took only 20 shots in the game, including none in the second period.
Fort William, meanwhile, fired 41 shots at Thunder goalie Tim Higbee.
The Thunder next play the KC Bulldogs (1-15-1) this Friday and Saturday in Thunder Bay.