It took until their 26th game but the Norman Northstars ensured they would not go winless at home in the 2019 portion of the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League season with a convincing 6-1 win over the Kenora Thistles Dec. 8.
Blake Lahonen scored three times – once in the first period and twice in the second – with Ryan Monias, Jordan Pfoh and Albert Sinclair tallying the other Northstars goals. The Northstars erupted for three goals in the opening 20 minutes. Cael Anderson had the only goal for the Thistles early in the second period to briefly make it 3-1 for the Northstars before Lahonen scored his second and third goals.
Odin Church made 28 saves to get his first win as a Northstar. His team outshot Kenora 70-29 in the game, recording 25 shots in the first period alone.
The win gave the Northstars their second and third points of the season. Prior to Sunday’s game, their only point had come via an overtime loss.
It looked like the Northstars would get into the win column for the first time one day earlier, as they built up a three-goal lead and were up 5-3 going into the third period. Kenora had only one win on the season coming into that game. But Matt Spence scored a pair of goals and Anderson a single in the latter half of the final period to give the Thistles their second victory by a 6-5 score.
Monias and Pfoh had scored first period goals for the Northstars. Sinclair stretched the lead to three goals in the first minute of the second period before Kenora battled back to within one thanks to back-to-back goals from Evan Armit. Brady Krentz made it a two-goal lead for the Northstars once again before Daunte Derouard of the Thistles cut it back down to one. Pfoh’s second of the game was the final goal of the middle frame and put the Northstars up 5-3 with one period left to play.
Mason Vogrig made 43 saves to get Kenora the win, while Linden Gamblin stopped 28 for the Northstars in a losing cause.
The Northstars remain in last place in the league with three points, two behind the 12th-place Thistles. The Brandon Wheat Kings are in 11th place with 15 points.
The Northstars play three more games on the road before Christmas – two against Yellowhead and one against the Wheat Kings – then start 2020 on the road against the Central Plains Capitals Jan. 3 before playing the Southwest Cougars in Souris Jan. 4-5. Their next home games are Jan. 11-12 in Thompson, when they take on the Winnipeg Wild, who have only lost two of 25 games so far this year.
