THUNDER BAY, Ont. – The red-hot Thunder Bay North Stars skated to their ninth consecutive Superior International Junior Hockey League victory Friday by dumping the rival Dryden GM Ice Dogs 7-3 at the Fort William Gardens.
Avery Siau picked up the lone tally of the opening frame as his 17th of the season, six and a half minutes into the contest, gave Thunder Bay the lead.
On the power play entering the second stanza, Dryden drew level thanks to a Kris Hamlin effort.
However the North Stars stormed back with four unanswered tallies in the period to go up by four and chase GM Ice Dogs starter Jacob Gnidziejko in favour of back-up Landon Pavlison.
Keighan Gerrie notched the first two goals for Thunder Bay as he supplied his 20th and 21st of the season.
Alexander Erwin and Kyle Auger added later markers for the North Stars as they carried the 5-1 lead into the third.
In the final frame, Alex Maticic’s 15th made it 6-1 before Dryden’s Jacen Bracko added his 32nd of the campaign to extend an impressive point streak to 16 games in succession.
Siau then supplied his second of the night early into a man advantage to extend the Thunder Bay cushion before the GM Ice Dogs Eric Stout’s 23rd rounded out the scoring in the final minute.
Gerrie, Auger and Maticic all had four-point nights for the home side while Siau had three.
Brandon Bodnar picked up the win making 38 saves.
Gnidziejko suffered the loss allowing five on 18 attempts while Pavlisin stopped 11 of 13 in lengthy relief.
The same two teams meet again Saturday in a 7:30 p.m. start at the Gardens.
Photo credit: Gary Moskalyk