By Gary Moskalyk
Thunder Bay, ON – Max Leduc had a goal and assist and Jack Orchard turned aside 30 shots as the Kam River Fighting Walleye defeated the Thunder Bay North Stars 3-2 before 1,422 fans at the Gardens.
Edison Weeks scored his 24th from the slot at 9:05 of the first to give the Stars a 1-0 lead. Ethan Lang matched the feat, beating Keenan Marks from the slot at 11:05 to tie it up. Ryan Doucette converted Mackenzie Sedgwick’s pass on a 2-on-1 to re-up the Kam River lead.
After a scoreless, defensive second frame, Max Leduc’s 16th at 8:17 gave the Walleye a 3-1 lead. Sam Skillestad scored his 4th 1:03 later on a Thunder Bay powerplay to pull the home team to within one. Skillestad’s goal was his second in two games.
The Stars pulled Marks twice in the third but couldn’t tie it up.
Simon Bienvenue was inserted in the Kam River line-up and picked up a pair of assists.
Orchard picked up his 10th win and lowered his GAA to 2.18. Another 53 minutes would qualify him as the league leader in that category. Marks saw his record drop to 14-7-1.
A total of 35 penalty minutes were meted out–22 to Kam River.
The Stars missed an opportunity to gain ground on Sioux Lookout for third place. Kam River secured their first-round bye yesterday.