Chaffay Registers a Hat Trick in Thunderbirds Game Three Win to Lead 3

Chaffay Registers a Hat Trick in Thunderbirds Game Three Win to Lead 3 – 0 West Division Final

Posted On: April 22, 2022
Posted By: Saultsports
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Photo Bob Davies

After opening the west division final best of seven series with 3 – 1 and 4 – 3 overtime wins in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, the Soo Thunderbirds headed across the St Mary’s River to take on the Soo Eagles in game three action at the Pullar Stadium in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan on Friday, April 22nd.

Only 34 seconds into the first period, Thunderbird Cooper Foster picked up a Kelsey Ouellet rebound to slide a goal from in front of Eagle goaltender Ryan Gilmore for Foster’s fifth of the postseason to give the visitors a 1 – 0 lead. All alone in front of the Eagles’ net, Michael Chaffay finds the back of Gilmore’s net over Gilmore’s catcher to bring the Thunderbirds’ lead to 2 – 0 at the 15:47 mark of the first, Kaden Dundas drew the lone helper on Chaffay’s fifth of the 2022 playoffs. With traffic in front of the Eagles’ net, Chaffay sinks his second of the game to give the Thunderbirds a 3 – 0 lead at 3:32 of the middle stanza. Ouellet notched his second point of the contest with an assist on Chaffay’s powerplay goal. At 16:02, Zachary Briskey pulls the Eagles within two picking up Charlie Salem’s rebound to find the back of Thunderbird netminder Noah Zeppa. Sam Holy had the other contributor on Briskey’s second of the postseason. From the left of the Eagles’ net and the visitors on a four minute powerplay, Michael Chaffay registers a hat trick to give the Thunderbirds a 4 – 1 win with 4:15 remaining in game three of the west division final. Foster and Andrew Gibson added the assists on Chaffay’s powerplay goal. Eagle goaltender Ryan Gilmore stopped 26 of 30 shots in the game three 4 – 1 loss while at the other end of Pullar Stadium Thunderbird netminder Noah Zeppa turned away 24 of 25 shots in the win.

Michael Chaffay told Saultsports that “Getting the hat trick felt good, I was just happy to help the team win. We knew this was a huge game and needed to win. Happy we did just that.”

Game four with the series at 3 – 0 will take place on Saturday, April 23rd at the Pullar Stadium in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan in a 7:00 p.m puck drop.