THUNDER BAY, Ont. – The Fort Frances Lakers squandered a three-goal third period lead before rebounding to defeat the Thunder Bay North Stars 5-3 Wednesday evening in Superior International Junior Hockey League play at the Fort William Gardens.
Wyatt Cota gave the visiting Lakers the lead with the only tally of the opening period as he beat Thunder Bay starter Eric Mann at 15:46.
Fort Frances extended their lead to 3-0 after 40 minutes tacking on markers by Cota early and Bowen Alcock, via the power play.
It was all North Stars however in the first half of the final frame as they stormed back with three goals to level the proceedings at 3-3.
Bradley Belisle picked up his 13th of the season at 2:27 to put the home side on the board before a Brandon Wolframe man advantage effort four minutes later made it a 3-2 game.
Cashen Tighe then tied it midway through the third to level the affair with half a period to play.
Undeterred the defending SIJHL champions from Fort Frances retook the lead with 5:51 remaining as Alcock connected on the power play for a second time on the night.
Dylan Kooner then added some insurance 40 seconds later to round out the scoring on the night.
Cota’s two goals helped him extend a consecutive game point streak to six.
Shots on goal were 43-36 in favour of the North Stars with Devin Tappenden securing the win and Mann the loss.
With the victory the league-leading Lakers won for a sixth consecutive outing to improve to 16-5-0-1 on the season.
Thunder Bay slipped to 14-8-0-1 in defeat.
Next up on the league slate has Thunder Bay visiting Ear Falls to take on the English River Miners while Fort Frances travels to Hoyt Lakes to meet the Minnesota Iron Rangers in a pair of 7:30 p.m. starts.
Lakers Stats: Bowen Alcock 2G, Wyatt Cota 2G, Dylan Kooner 1G, Donovan Cousineau 2A, Carter Chorney 2A, Dylan Robertson 2A, Nick Minerva 1A, Matt Vela 1A, Gordon Campbell 1A, Miles Nolan 1A, Devin Tappenden 43SOG, 40SV, 3GA, SV%.930