THUNDER BAY, Ont. – The Thunder Bay Kings skated to two victories Saturday in North American Prospects Hockey League regular season play while also dropping a narrow exhibition encounter.
The Happy Time Tours major midgets blanked the Minnesota Muskies 3-0 while the Sportop minor midgets doused the Indy Fuel 6-1 in a regular-season meeting before being edged 2-1 by the Florida Alliance in an exhibition encounter later in the day.
Eric Vanska was spotless for the under-18 squad in posting the shutout over the Muskies.
Scoring for the Kings in the victory were Bryson Cataldo in the first period while Jeremy Dunmore and Mackenzie Sedgwick supplied markers in the middle stanza.
Cole MacKenzie chipped in with two assists for Thunder Bay.
As for the minor midget Kings, their power play was clicking on all cylinders in the decision over Indy as they racked up five markers via the man advantage in the win.
Keegan Jones’ man advantage effort gave his team a 1-0 lead after one vs. Indy.
The Fuel tied it midway through the second, but Thunder Bay countered by striking three times in a seven-minute span to take control of the contest as Jones, Brody Stenlund and Alex Smith all connected.
They then secured the triumph with a pair of Kai Vanska power-play goals in the third to round out the scoring.
Picking up the win in net was Gunner Paradis.
In the setback vs. Florida, netminder Keegan Marks made 28 saves to keep his side in it in an outing that saw his side get outshot 30-20 overall.
After the Alliance opened the scoring in the first frame, the Kings countered a couple minutes later on a Josh Lehto tally a couple of shifts later.
Florida added one more in the middle stanza in what turned out to be the final marker in the game.
Wrapping up Round 1 of NAPHL play Sunday, the minor midgets take on the New Jersey Jr. Titans at 8:30 a.m. while the majors meet the Minnesota Loons at noon.
