SUPERIOR INTERNATIONAL JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
SIJHL MEDIA UPDATE
Release Date: Friday, March 24, 2017
Photo credit: Clint Bruyere
Norskies blow out Lakers in one-sided Game 3 triumph
FORT FRANCES, Ont. – With their season on the line, the Thief River Norskies were clicking on all cylinders Friday as they thumped the Fort Frances Lakers 6-0 in Game 3 of their Superior International Junior Hockey League quarter-final series at Ice for Kids Arena.
Thief River Falls now trails the best-of-five set 2-1 and have forced a Game 4 Saturday back in Fort Frances at 7:30 p.m.
The contest was scoreless into the latter stages of the opening frame when the Norskies struck twice in a 24-second span to take control.
Parker Simonson gave the visitors the lead at 18:36 while teammate Michael Johnson connected on the next shift.
They then chased Lakers netminder Brandon Bodnar two and a half minutes into the middle stanza thanks to a Tyler Chalupsky effort.
Simonson then greeted replacement Jessie Heisz at 17:57 as he opted to shoot on a two-on-one and made no mistake snapping it high glove side to make it 4-0.
Thief River Falls tacked on one more before the second period was done as Peter Grytdahl fooled Heisz with a shot from long range in the final moments of the session.
The Norksies added one more in the final frame to finish off the one-sided decision on Connor Bowey’s initial SIJHL playoff marker.
Tommy Stang aided the wonner’s cause by doling out three assists on the night.
With the result, Thief River Falls set a couple of club marks by achieving their first league playoff win while Ryan Buttazzoni posted the opening postseason shutout in franchise history.
Buttazzoni stopped all 35 attempts fired his way in the triumph.
Bodnar suffered the loss allowing three against on 22 attempts while Heisz handled 28 of 31 in relief.
All SIJHL playoff games will be streamed live online at HockeyTV.com.
SIJHL quarter-final
No. 4 Thief River Falls Norskies vs. No. 5 Fort Frances Lakers
Fort Frances leads best-of-five series 2-1
Game 1: Fort Frances 4 Thief River Falls 1
Game 2: Fort Frances 5 Thief River Falls 4
Game 3: Thief River Falls 6 Fort Frances 0
Game 4: Saturday, March 25 @ Fort Frances 7:30 p.m. (Ice for Kids Arena)
Game 5*: Monday, March 27 @ Thief River Falls 7:30 p.m. (Ralph Engelstad Arena)
*-if necessary