Photo: Freeze Frame Photos

With only one point separating the third place (22-8-2-2) Blind River Beavers and the second place (23-9-2-1) Soo Thunderbirds with 49 points, the two junior ‘A’ hockey programs took to the ice for a Tuesday, January 10th west division contest in Blind River.

Scoring his second goal with the Thunderbirds, Ranon Joseph fires a snapshot through traffic from the right blueline 3:43 into the first period to find the back of Beaver Gavin Disano’s net to give the Thunderbirds a 1 – 0 lead. Ethan Novello and Samuel Lake added the helpers on Joseph’s goal. At 17:26 of the middle stanza, Jackson Truchan fires the Soo’s second goal under Beaver goaltender Gavin Disano’s blocker after catching a cross ice pass from Brock Santa Maria to give the Thunderbirds a 2 – 0 lead. Ranon Joseph added the other assist on Truchan’s seventeenth goal of the season. From behind Blind River’s net, Justin Mauro sinks his eighth of the season with wrapping the Soo’s third goal around Disano’s left post at 4:19 of the third to give the Thunderbirds’ a 3 – 0 shutout win in Blind River. Michael Chaffay and Tyler Noudreau notched the contributors on Mauro’s goal. In the 3 – 0 win, Thunderbird netminder Landon Miller earned his second shutout of the 2022 – 2023 season.

Both teams are back in action for a midweek matchup in Sault Ste Marie on Wednesday, January 11th at the John Rhodes Centre for a 7:00 p.m puck drop.