By Gary Moskalyk
Thunder Bay, ON – Nikolas Campbell scored a hat trick and Conner Lemieux made 48 saves as the Thunder Bay North Stars defeated the Red Lake Miners 5-2 at Fort William Gardens.
The win gave Thunder Bay a share of fourth place with a game in hand on Red Lake.
Riley See scored his first of the season at 11:55 of the first. Jamie Fuchs snapped one from the high slot to tie it with 42 seconds remaining on a North Stars powerplay to tie it up.
Former North Star Jonah DesRosiers collected a Thunder Bay giveaway and buried his fourth for a 2-1 Miners lead at 2:03 of the second. Fuchs was stymied on a pad save by Jack Osmond but moments later Campbell was there to find a loose puck for his first of three just 44 seconds later.
Campbell’s dipsy-doodle deep in the Red Lake zone got him in the clear and he made no mistake giving Thunder Bay their first lead of the game midway through the second. Dimitri Trahiotis notched his 11th from 12 feet out to pad the lead.
Campbell’s third, an absolute snipe from a tough angle, rounded out the scoring at 3:44 of the third. Campbell has 10 goals in 12 games.
Lemieux was spectacular in net, stopping all 22 shots in the third to collect his 10th win.
Thunder Bay was able to kill off a five-minute major and a 1:32 5-on-3 in the middle of the third to preserve the win.
Osmond dropped to 14-10-2 with his 36-saves on 41 shots.
Thunder Bay took 15 of 27 penalty minutes. The game attracted 395 fans.