THUNDER BAY, Ont. – Capitalizing on turnovers and quick transition play helped send the Wisconsin Lumberjacks to a 5-2 triumph over the Thunder Bay North Stars in Superior International Junior Hockey League action Wednesday evening at the Fort William Gardens.
The lone tally of the opening frame came midway through the session as Wisconsin’s Joel Matthews took a Ryan Green feed between the circles and snapped a shot, blocker side, that flew past Thunder Bay starter Dylan Kosik for his eighth goal of the season as he also extended a consecutive game point streak to seven in succession.
Moving on to the middle stanza, Thunder Bay drew level just as a man advantage was set to expire after a Cody Bruchkowski effort hit off the post right to an open Alex Erwin who was left with a tap in from close range.
Stealing the puck in the neutral zone, the Lumberjacks regained the lead late in the period that saw a couple of quick passes and finished with Ryley Cardinal sliding in his fifth since joining the club.
Wisconsin then went up by a pair four and a half minutes as Matthews was gifted with a giveaway deep in North Stars territory and promptly buried his second of the night.
The visitors kept coming and added to their cushion at 8:35 as Kayle Bocken made a nice move then got it over to Cameron Birkeland on the left wing who beat Kosik with a snap shot.
Continuing to connect on the counter, the Lumberjacks tacked on another as Bocken got it up to Matt Turnbull moved moved past a Thunder Bay defender as finished off his fourth marker of 2019-20.
Nikolas Campbell got one back in the latter stages for the home side as his 14th of the season rounded out the night’s scoring.
Matthews finished with three points, including his initial game-winning goal, to aid the visitor’s cause, giving him 12 points in his current seven-game point streak.
Wisconsin goaltender Hunter Adams made 33 saves to help his team earn their first-ever victory over the North Stars.
Kosik suffered the loss, allowing five on 29 attempts while backup Emerson Mercer stopped all nine shots he faced in just over eight minutes of relief in making his SIJHL debut.
Photo credit: Leith Dunick, tbnewswatch.com