THIEF RIVER FALLS, Minn. – Thief River Falls Norskies netminder Bailey Schmitz turned aside all 36 shots he faced to post his first Superior International Junior Hockey League shutout Sunday as he blanked the Minnesota Iron Rangers 5-0 at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
The Norskies set the tone in the opening frame as they struck three times to go up 3-0 after one period of play.
Parker Simonson’s league-leading 21st was the eventual game-winner 3:42 in.
Down a man a couple shifts later, Mitchell Soderberg struck shorthanded to put the home side up by a pair.
Soderberg then added his second of frame and eighth overall at 9:07 to extend the Thief River Falls cushion.
Heading into the middle stanza, Blair Lindholm connected on a man advantage opportunity in the latter stages of the session to make 4-0 after 40 minutes.
Riley Bergland then rounded out the scoring in the third for the Norskies while Schmitz did the rest to wrap things up.
Pete Grytdahl and Connor Bowey both had two assists to aid the offensive cause for Thief River Falls.
Rob Ivy started in net for Minnesota and suffered the loss allowing the three first period markers on nine attempts before giving way to Tyler Thompson, who handled 20 of 22 in nearly 51 minutes of long relief.
Photo credit: Allison Garrigan