SUPERIOR INTERNATIONAL JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
SIJHL COMMUNICATIONS
MEDIA RELEASE
Release Date: Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2013
North Stars snap Lakers 15-game winning streak in shootout; Miners shutout Wilderness
THUNDER BAY – Two games on the Superior International Junior Hockey League slate Tuesday evening saw the Thunder Bay North Stars need a five-round shootout to put an end to the Fort Frances Lakers franchise-record 15-game winning streak while the English River Miners posted their first shutout in team history in blanking the Wisconsin Wilderness.
THUNDER BAY NORTH STARS 5 FORT FRANCES LAKERS 4 (SHOOTOUT) – A battle featuring two of the top teams in the SIJHL standings went right down to the wire before Thunder Bay came out on top in the shootout in the contest played at the Fort William Gardens.
Matthias Gardiman has a hat-trick for the North Stars and also found the back of the net in the shootout to pace his side in the triumph.
Zach Grzelewski notched the other effort in regulations while Daniel Delpaggio dished out three assists.
All three Lipinski brothers contributed for Fort Frances with Kyle, Lyndon and Bryce all scoring goals with Lucas Debenedet also connecting for the Lakers.
In the shootout Thunder Bay captain Trevor Hynnes notched the difference maker on the North Stars fifth attempt before Nathanial Dupuis thwarted Mason Meyer of the Lakers on the final attempt to decide the outcome.
Shots on goals favoured Fort Frances 42-31 with Dupuis picking up the win and Jordan Cartney suffering the setback.
With the victory Thunder Bay improves to 12-2-0-3 on the season and move into second place in the standings while league-leading Fort Frances, despite seeing their lengthy winning streak come to an end, still picked up a point as their record went to 16-1-0-2. They have still amassed an impressive 31 out of a possible 32 points in their past 16 outings.
ENGLISH RIVER MINERS 5 WISCONSIN WILDERNESS 0 – Greg Harney turned aside all 40 shots he faced to register his first SIJHL shutout as well the initial one in English River history to backstop the Miners to the triumph over Wisconsin at Ear Falls Arena.
Brendan Wilde had a natural hat-trick to pace the home side offensively while Taylor Bargar and Dominic Blouin added singles in the third period.
Wilde also notched his league-leading fourth game-winning goal in the contest.
Griffin Strain saw 28 attempts fired his way in the loss for the Wilderness.
SIJHL action resumes Wednesday on two fronts as Fort Frances heads to Hoyt Lakes to take on the Minnesota Iron Rangers, who have a six-game winning streak on their own on the go while the Dryden Ice Dogs entertain Wisconsin in a pair of 7 p.m. starts.