THUNDER BAY, Ont. – It was all Thunder Bay North Stars Thursday evening in Superior International Junior Hockey League play at the Fort William Gardens as they thumped an affiliate-laden English River Miners side 10-0 at the Fort William Gardens.
Avery Siau paced the Thunder Bay attack with a pair of tallies and two assists for a four-point night.
Siau, Ryan Mignault and Alex Maticic staked the North Stars to a 3-0 lead after one period of play with the latter duo both reaching the 20-goal plateau on the campaign.
Kyle Auger upped the cushion with a man advantage effort early in the middle frame while Justin Muir added one late in the session to put the home side up by five after 40 minutes.
Thunder Bay then put it away with five more markers in the third to complete the romp with Dillon Ward, Brendan Gillis, Carson Smith, Logan Mihalcin and Siau all finding the back of the net for the North Stars.
Brad Thrower dished out three assists in the triumph as he was one of eight Thunder Bay skaters with multi-point nights.
Brandon Bodnar had an easy night of it in posting his SIJHL-leading sixth shutout of the season.
Miners’ affiliate netminder Cameron Ceci was blitzed with 64 shots against in defeat for English River.
The one-sided result means English River will finish in fourth spot in the regular season standings and will see them play the No. 5 Fort Frances Lakers in one league first round quarter-final series that will run from March 20-27.
Meanwhile the club that finishes third overall will take on the No. 6 Minnesota Iron Rangers in the other quarter-final match-up with the No. 1 and No. 2 seeded squads earning first round byes.
Photo credit: Leith Dunick, tbnewswatch.com