Dryden GM Ice Dogs outshot Thunder Bay North Stars 50 – 40 Friday night in Thunder Bay – but lost the game regardless.
Thunder Bay North Stars forward Cody Bruchkowski was the difference as he scored five goals in leading the North Stars to a 7-3 victory over the Ice Dogs at the Fort William Gardens.
Dryden got off to a solid start as Lucas Fabijancic got his first SIJHL goal 2:18 into the contest.
Thunder Bay came back to tie it eight minutes into the opening period on Bruchkowski’s initial marker of the evening.
He scored his second later in the period, scoring during a power play.
Bruchkowski then finished off his fourth hat trick of the season just past the five-minute mark of the second period as the North Stars went up by two.
Teammate Nikolas Campbell made it 4-1 for the North SARS before Dylan DiTomaso and Brad Fortier brought Dryden back to within one after two periods of play.
In the third, Bruchkowski collected goals four and five and Andrew Rennie rounded out the scoring for the North Stars.
The GM Ice Dogs had 50 shots on Thunder Bay starter Jordan Smith, who picked up the win, while Dryden netminder Knute Loe faced 40 shots in defeat.
The same two sides will finish off a weekend home-and-home affair Saturday in a 7:30 p.m. start at Dryden’s Memorial Arena.
Photo credit: Gary Moskalyk
