After falling 4- 3 in a shootout to the Beavers in Blind River on Saturday, March 20th, the Thunderbirds returned to Blind River for a late afternoon puck drop on Sunday, March 21st in a game four of the 2021 COVID Cup Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League matchup with the Soo leading the seven game series 2 – 1.
Crossing over the Beaver blueline and finding the back of Blind River goaltender Wyatt Courchaine net, Warren Young fires an unassisted opening goal for his second of the season only 38 seconds into the game to give the Soo a 1 – 0 lead. After blocking a shot at his own blueline, Meguire McNaughton picks up a loose puck in the neutral zone to sink a tying breakaway goal under Thunderbird netminder Scott Young’s right pad to even the game 1 – 1 for the Beavers at 5:54 of the first. From just inside the left blueline, Lucas Adams fires a shot to be tipped by Spencer Kennedy to find the back of Young’s net under the Thunderbird netminder’s blocker at 11:52 to give the Beavers a 2 – 1 lead. McNaughton drew the second assist on Kennedy’s first of the season. With a five on three powerplay goal from inside the left faceoff circle, Matt Cato scores his fifth of the season with a slapshot behind Young to increase the Beavers lead to 3 – 1 at the 14:43 mark of the first period. Ethan Pegg and Justin Mauro notched the contributors on Blind River’s third of the game.
Thunderbird forward Tyson Doucette picks up a loose puck in front of Courchaine to slide the Soo’s second goal underneath the Beaver goaltender to pull the visitors within one at 5:09 of the middle stanza. Captain Avery Rebek added the lone helper on Doucette’s fourth of the season. 44 seconds past the midway mark of the second and a Blind River giveaway in the right corner, Caleb Wood sinks his seventh of the season with the tying goal at the 9:16 mark of the period to tie the game 3 – 3 for the Thunderbirds. To the right of Young’s net, Devin Mauro lifts a powerplay goal over the Thunderbird netminder at 6:52 of the second with Noah Minns and Thomas Michaud drawing the assists on Mauro’s seventh of the season to give the Beavers a 4 – 3 lead. Hometown Beaver Blake McNally increases Blind River’s lead by two with a goal under Thunderbird Young’s catcher at six minutes even of the third to bring the lead to 5 – 3. Nicholas Jameus and Devin Mauro had the contributors on McNally’s second of the season. Picking up a loose puck in the Soo zone, Michaud fires the Beavers sixth of the game at 12:03 of the third to give Blind River a 6 – 3 lead. Jacob Kelly and Pegg registered the assists on Michaud’s seventh of the season.
With a slapshot over Young’s blocker from the right faceoff circle, Kennedy scores his second of the contest with a lone helper from Adams to increase Blind River’s lead to 7 – 3. Jesse Dupuis lifts the Beavers eighth of the game through a scrum over Young’s right shoulder to give the hosts a 8 – 3 win over the Soo. Dre Leismeister and Cato added the assists on Dupuis’ second of the season. In the 8 – 3 win over the Thunderbirds, Beaver goaltender Wyatt Courchaine turned away 35 of 38 shots while Soo netminder Scott Young stopped 38 of 46 shots in the Thunderbirds second straight loss to Blind River.
After the dominating win in Blind River, Kyle Brick told Saultsports that “I can’t say enough about our guys who have stepped up to play defense for us this series with Justin Mauro was absolutely elite on the blueline today. Our guys played a full sixty minutes and we found a way to play five on five. We are happy to be back in the series and we’re excited for Thursday in Sault Ste Marie.”
The Thunderbirds and Beavers will meet on Thursday, March 25th for game five of the 2021 COVID Cup with the series tied 2 – 2. Puck drop will be at 7:00 p.m at the John Rhodes Centre in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario.
