By Gary Moskalyk
Thunder Bay, ON – Thunder Bay outshot visiting Wisconsin 64-24, posting a 5-0 win to climb over Sioux Lookout and tie first place Kam River atop the SIJHL standings board.
Ben Laurette stopped 24 shots for his shutout of the year. The Calgary, AB native is undefeated in regulation time, logging a 6-0-1 record, lowering his goals against to 2.41 and raising his save percentage to .925 since his first game on January 13th.
EJ Paddington scored two, Matthew Beazley scored his first goal of the year and added an assist, Alex Remenda had a goal and assist, Edison Weeks hit 70 points with a pair of helpers and Easton Mikus had two points to tie Wisconsin’s Dillon Phillips with 57 points. The Stars managed to keep the streaking Phillips off the scoresheet.
William Forrester made 59 saves in the Wisconsin net, keeping the Lumberjacks in the game. William McDonnel rapped one off the post in the third period, a millimeter away from breaking Laurette’s shutout.
Thunder Bay fired 18, 27, and 19 shots over the three frames.
Connor Larrett opened the scoring at 9:48 of the first, tipping in Beazley’s point shot for his 7th. Beazley’s point shot at 18:44 was his first goal of the year.
Remenda with his 10th and Paddington struck for second period goals. Paddington raised his season total to 29 goals with a third period snipe from the slot.
Thunder Bay took three minor penalties. Wisconsin had a lone minor. Wisconsin was 0-2 on the powerplay. The Stars had no powerplay chances.
The game attracted 332 fans to the Fort William Gardens.