Photo Credit: Freeze Frame Photoz
In a late afternoon matinee at the John Rhodes Centre, the fourth place (15-5-2-1) Soo Thunderbirds hosted the fifth place (16-8) Espanola Paper Kings in a west division NOJHL matchup. The Thunderbirds hit the ice against the Paper Kings only one point ahead of the Paper Kings who took to the ice in Sault Ste Marie with 32 points.
23 seconds into the opening period, Daniel Beaupre picked up a rebound to fire a cross crease pass to Kelsey Ouellet to sink the Soo’s first goal of the game to give the Thunderbirds a 1 – 0 lead. Graydon Gutrie picks up a rebound off of Thunderbird netminder to slide the tying goal under Kolton Bourret to even the game 1 – 1. Atley Gringorten and Carter Makasoff drew the assists on Gutrie’s goal at 1:37 of the first. Jackson Truchan catches a backhand pass from James Legler in front of Espanola goaltender Jake Marois net to lift the Thunderbirds’ second past the Paper King goaltender to give the Soo a 2 – 1 lead at 5:51 of the first.
With a loose puck in the Espanola crease, Alex Remenda jams the Soo’s third under a sprawling Jake Marois to increase the Thunderbirds a 3 – 1 lead at 5:42 of the second period. Jackson Truchan and Sam Lake registered the helpers on Remenda’s goal. At 17:16 of the period from in front of the Paper Kings net, Adam Kukko sinks his first as a Thunderbird to give the Soo a 4 – 1 lead with Truchan and Legler notching the contributors on Kukko’s goal. With 45 seconds left in the period, Blake Peters – Davey catches a cross neutral zone pass from Spencer Horgan to break in all alone to lift Espanola’s second past Bourret to send the Paper Kings into the second intermission down only two. At 12:45 of the third period, Spencer Horgan picks up loose puck in front of the Soo crease to close the gap to one for the Paper Kings with Liam Rampersad and Grant Booth added the assists on Espanola’s third of the contest. Espanola’s Jake Marois turned away 34 of 38 shots in the Paper Kings 4 – 3 loss while Thunderbird Kolton Bourret stopped 29 of 32 shots in the Soo’s 16th win of the season.
The Thunderbirds next opponent will be the Beavers in Blind River on Saturday, November 25th in a 7:00 p.m puck drop.
