THIEF RIVER FALLS, Minn. – Down by one with less than 10 minutes to play in regulation, the Thief River Falls Norskies rallied with four unanswered markers to pull out a 4-1 victory over the Thunder Bay North Stars in a Superior International Junior Hockey League meeting Friday at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
Thunder Bay opened the scoring just past the midway mark of the first period as Jacob Brown finished off a Logan Mihalcin feed at 10:05.
The rest of the frame and all of second stanza stayed scoreless with the North Stars carrying their slim lead into the final session.
There, Thief River Falls drew level half way through the third when Joe Collins chipped a cross-crease feed from Mason McIntosh high over Thunder Bay goalkeeper Dougie Newhouse.
A few shifts later, the home side got the eventual game-winner as Nick Harder skated into one in the high slot and fired a low blast that fooled Newhouse at 13:51.
Cole Carpenter then gave Thief River Falls some insurance in the latter stages of the contest as he stuffed one in from the top of the crease to extend the lead.
The Norskies then capped off the comeback in the final minute as McIntosh launched one from long range into an empty net to round out the night’s scoring.
McIntosh finished with three points on the night in helping lead his club to the win.
Shots on goal in the contest also favoured Thief River Falls by a 36-22 count with Seth Purcilly registering his initial SIJHL triumph while Newhouse suffered the loss.
Photo credit: Tim Benton