TBirds Crawl Back Into Game 10 Of the Border Battle For a Shootout Win

January 29, 2010. Pullar Stadium, Sault Ste Marie, Michigan

Coming off a two game losing skid, the Soo Thunderbirds crossed the bridge to face the Soo Michigan Eagles in round ten of the “Border Battle”. One would expect a team to come out hard and try to redeem their losses. That was not the case on Friday at the venerable Pullar Stadium.

The TBirds came out flat in the first period, and seemed to be struggling to maintain their composure. Lack of finishing assignments and their checks landed the TBirds in a two goal deficit after the first period, due to a pair of goals by Eagles Joe Spritzer. Spritzer beat TBird goalie Eric Pye cleanly on both shots.

The second period saw the TBirds come out a bit stronger, after a livid scolding by coach Pat Carricato. Jerry Petingalo added some spark to make the score 2-1, with a short handed goal at 05:28, assisted by Kurtis Travaglini. But defensive break downs would allow Eagles Aaron Leonard to score at 09:44 to pull the Eagles ahead 3-1 to end the second period.

Following a review of their game strategy after the second period, the TBirds started to gain composure and gain momentum. Colin Barnauskas made the score 3-2 on a nice passing play from Tyler Evoy and Jerry Petingalo at 04:10. But the Eagles would again pull ahead by two goals, when Eagle Brian Depp had his shot deflect off a TBird defenceman and sneak behind Eric Pye at 08:01.

TBird coach Pat Carricato decided to pull Pye and put in Ryan McDonald, who was stellar to finish the game. At 14:53 Andy Grypma worked hard to gain the red zone and put a nice shot past Eagle goalie John Kleinhans, goal assisted by newcomer Justin Scott and Chad Thibodeau. After the goal there was a scrum and the TBirds were given a 5 minute roughing penalty, and the Eagles were given a 2 minute minor. With both teams playing four on four, Tyler Evoy tied the score at 4-4 at the 16:10 mark, assisted by Colin Miller and Drew Otto. The TBirds then had to kill off 3 minutes of penalty time. After 3 minutes of nail biting action, the game ended at 4-4 and went into overtime.

The TBirds controlled the overtime frame and ran a strong high trap and aggressive fore check to pin the Eagles. With 12 seconds left in OT the TBirds went in on a 3 on 1, but missed the open net, sending the game to a shootout.

Justin Thomas was the first shooter for the TBirds, Thomas made a nifty change up move and scored five hole. The first Eagle shooter missed, and Tyler Evoy missed for the TBirds. The second Eagles shooter missed as Ryan McDonald stood tall. Colin Barnauskas shot for the TBirds and made a clever delay move that caught Kleinhans off guard, and went top shelf to end the game with a 5-4 victory for the Thunderbirds.

“The first period was possibly our worst period this year,” stated coach Pat Carricato, “but the boys gained momentum and showed character, to get back in it and finally get the 2 points”. “That was the best game I have seen the Eagles play, and they were very disciplined throughout the game, coach [Paul] Theriault has this team working very effectively, we had more than our hands full tonight”.

Eagle coach Paul Theriault stated “These are a great group of boys and they trust each other. With trust we will keep developing as a solid squad”. The Eagles performance tonight was proof of that, and this is a team that needs to be taken very seriously. 539 fans were treated to some exciting hockey at the Pullar.

The Thunderbirds return to action Sunday, Jan. 31 for a 4 o’clock game against the Manitoulin Islanders at the Rhodes Centre. The TBirds will be looking to avenge their 6-3 loss at the hands of the Isles in their last match up.