By Gary Moskalyk
Thunder Bay, ON – The Thunder Bay North Stars fired 61 shots at Lakers goaltender Ryan Tanner and needed the first 40 to beat him for the first time, finally pulling away with a 4-1 victory over the Fort Frances Lakers at Fort William Gardens.
Connor O’Brien opened the scoring at 6:59 of the first for Fort on assists from Ryker Watt and Brady Krentz on a Laker powerplay. O’Brien’s shot from the top of the of the right circle trickled in after Conner Lemieux got most of the puck but not enough to keep it out,
The Stars recorded 27 shots in the second period and solved Tanner with 2:06 left in the second. Nikolas Campbell collected his second of the year on Stroble’s doorstep on assists from Colby Feist and Jamie Fuchs to tie the game.
Dylan Winsor scored the game winner at 5:51 of the third, deflecting Matt Halushak’s point shot. Magnus Pearson scored at 12:38 and Edison Weeks struck for number 17 barging in on a solo effort at 15:14 to salt it away.
Lemieux picked up his ninth win, shunting aside 29.
Fort Frances scored on their lone powerplay opportunity while Thunder Bay was 1-3.
The Stars are four points behind fourth place Red Lake with four games in hand.
Thunder Bay travels to Norwest for a weekend series against Kam River on a two-game winning streak.
The Lakers dropped their 14th in a row. They have a home series against sixth place Wisconsin.