The Thunder Bay North Stars scored a pair of late second-period goals to help them defeat the Fort Frances Lakers, 2-1, Friday evening in Superior International Junior Hockey League action at Ice for Kids Arena.

All the scoring in the contest came in the second period.

Lakers captain Merritt Rysavy put in the first goal, on the power play, 12:21 into the second period. He was assisted by 2010 Falls High School graduate Jordan Christianson and Simon Desrosiers.

Thunder Bay’s Jerid Adamson tied the game at 16:38 of the second period, while Kris Kellaway put in the game-winner just over a minute later.

Jayme Brattengeier made 35 saves to pick up the win for the North Stars, who picked up an on-ice victory for the first time since Jan. 24.

The win also put an end to the Lakers’ 11-straight victories.

Jameson Shortreed suffered the loss facing 27 shots, before being injured early in the third period when he went out of the net for the puck and was knocked over by the North Stars’ Matt Kaarela, who received a 5-minute major and a game misconduct penalty for charging.

North Stars 1, Lakers 0

Thunder Bay’s Alex Vaillant scored the game’s only goal 51 seconds into Saturday’s contest, while Brattengeier turned aside all 38 shots he faced to backstop the North Stars to a 1-0 victory over Fort Frances in SIJHL play at Ice for Kids Arena.

Vaillant scored his eighth goal for 2012-13, while Brattengeier registered his first shutout of the season.

Though Talor Joseph only allowed the one goal on the night, he suffered his first loss in a Lakers’ uniform.

Lakers 5, North Stars 3

Fort Frances got back on the winning track Monday with a 5-3 victory at Thunder Bay.

Payton Ruter scored two first-period goals for the Lakers. Falls High School graduate Alex Bruess and Christianson each had an assist for Fort Frances.

Tanner Hamilton made 23 saves in goal for the Lakers, who play their regular-season finale at 7:30 tonight in Thunder Bay.

Player of the year finalist in SIJHL

Christianson is one of three SIJHL finalists nominated for the Pizza Hut Player of the Year/Most Valuable Player award.

The two other finalists are the Dryden Ice Dogs’ Chris Belhumeur and Mike Dietrich of the Minnesota Wilderness.

In the eight categories for which individual awards will be presented this season, each SIJHL member organization submitted names of those eligible, from their own teams, as nominees for the various awards. From those submissions, the clubs then cast votes in each category to decide the finalists.

Out of these finalists, the winner of each individual honor will be announced over the course of the coming weeks leading up to the conclusion of the 2013 SIJHL playoffs.