THIEF RIVER FALLS, Minn. – Stone Stelzl tallied twice, including potting the game-winner, and added an assist as the visiting Fort Frances Lakers went on to defeat the Thief River Falls Norskies 4-3 in Superior International Junior Hockey League play Thursday night at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
Fort Frances opened the scoring a couple of minutes into the contest as Ethan Carlson-Jourdain stuffed in his fifth goal of the season from the left of the crease.
Thief River Falls countered with the equalizer at 15:14 of the first frame when Tyler Johnson redirected a Josh Olson point blast.
A frenzied second stanza saw the clubs combine for five markers, including the first three from the Lakers.
After Tyler Malpass put the guests back on top at 2:07, Stelzl provided his first of the night.
Then with Fort Frances on the power play midway through the period, Stelzl sniped one from the right side as his low shot found its way into the bottom left corner to put his side up by three.
Answering back, the Norskies collected a pair of man advantage efforts in rapid succession to get back into it.
Joe Collins’ eighth came at 14:56 before Tyler Johnson went high on Lakers’ netminder Dean Buchholz from the left faceoff circle a minute and a half later to make it a one-goal game after two periods of play.
However, the visitors tightened up defensively in the third to secure the narrow road victory.
Kyle Uzelman chipped in with two assists to aid the Fort Frances offensive cause as he extended a consecutive game point streak to five in succession.
Shots on net in the match-up favoured Thief River Falls by a 31-25 count with Buchholz picking up the win while Joshua Seeley suffered the setback for the Norskies.
Photo credit: Tim Benton