SUPERIOR INTERNATIONAL JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
SIJHL COMMUNICATIONS
MEDIA RELEASE
Release Date: Friday, Nov. 8, 2013
Minnesota edges Thunder Bay in shootout while English River skates past Wisconsin
THUNDER BAY – A pair of games on the Superior International Junior Hockey League slate saw the Minnesota Iron Rangers pull out a 5-4 shootout victory over the Thunder Bay North Stars while the English River Miners skated past the Wisconsin Wilderness by a 5-2 score.
MINNESOTA IRON RANGERS 5 THUNDER BAY NORTH STARS 4 (SO) – A wild one at the Fort William Gardens saw the two sides combine for seven third period goals before the visiting Iron Rangers eventually won it in a shootout.
Trevor Hoth gave the Iron Rangers the lead 13:29 into the opening stanza in what would prove to be the only tally in the game’s first 40 minutes of play.
The score stayed that way past the midway point of the third period before the two sides exploded for seven markers in just over a seven-minute span.
Zach Grzeelewski tied things up for the North Stars, on the power play, at 10:47 then Thunder Bay took the lead 22 seconds later thanks to Alex Vaillant.
Answering right back Minnesota got goals from Drew Millis and Jason Reynolds to go up 3-2.
Not to be outdome Robert MacLean knotted the affair once again at 15:41.
Just over a minute later Jonathon Losurdo put the Iron Rangers back on top only to see Matthias Gardiman force overtime with 2:02 to go.
Following a scoreless five-minute OT the shootout was needed to determine which side would gain the extra point in the standings.
In extra shots Minnesota found the mark in all three of their attempts with Austin Frank, Reynolds and Adam Schoenfeld all connecting while Gardiman was the only Thunder Bay marksmen.
Shots on goal favoured the Iron Rangers by a 46-34 count with Erick Majerle picking up the win and Eric Mann the shootout loss.
ENGLISH RIVER MINERS 5 WISCONSIN WILDERNESS 2 – At the Ice House in Spooner the visiting Miners got a hat-trick from Brendan Wilde to defeat the hometown Wilderness.
They jumped out to a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes with Wil Wickersham, Cgris Hrebec, shorthanded, and Wilde connecting for English River in that opening stanza while Nick Minerva countered for Wisconsin.
Darrick Howard pulled the Wilderness to within one in the middle frame to make it a 3-2 game after two periods of play.
Wilde tacked on two more tallies in the third to complete the victory.
P.D. Melgoza made 37 stops in picking up the win for English River with Luke Thompson facing 43 shots in a losing cause for Wisconsin.