Photo Credit: Freeze Frame Photos
After winning game three at home in Sault Ste Marie on Monday, March 25th to take a 2 – 1 west division semi-final against the Sudbury Cubs in the best of seven series, the Soo Thunderbirds took to the ice at the John Rhodes Centre on Tuesday, March 26th to host the Cubs in game four action.
Thunderbird forward Daniel Beaupre skates coast to coast to send a pass to Jacob Smith in front of the Cubs crease to slide the opening goal under Sudbury goaltender Noah Metivier at 7:16 of the first. At 16:12 of the first and unassisted Justin Seguin picks a bouncing puck that deflect straight up in the air in front of the Soo crease to find the back of Thunderbird netminder Kolton Bourret to pull the Cubs even 1 – 1. With Callum McAuley in the penalty for a cross check, Samuel Assinewai picks up a rebound of Bourret’s blocker to sink Sudbury’s go-ahead goal at 18:31, Hudson Martin added the lone assist on Assinewai’s powerplay goal. With Sudbury on a five on three powerplay, Assinewai skates from behind the right side of the Thunderbirds’ net to skate across the front of the crease to slide the Cubs third under Bourret to bring the lead to 3 – 1 at 8:35 of the third. Ethan Larmand notched the contributor on Assinewai’s second powerplay goal of the game. With Sudbury on a powerplay, Hudson Martin sends a cross ice pass to Ethan Larmand in front of the Soo’s crease to lift the Cubs fourth past Bourret to increase the lead to 4 – 1.
At 16:14 of the period on Kolton Bourret on the bench for an extra attacker, Beaupre picked up a rebound to lift his second over a sprawled Noah Metivier to close the gap to two for the Thunderbirds. Kelsey Ouellet and Kaden Dundas registered the assists on Beaupre’s third of the playoffs. With 1:53 remaining in game four, Beaupre sends a pass from behind the Cubs to the right of goaltender Noah Metivier, Jacob Smith scores the game’s fifth powerplay goal of the game for the final goal of game four. Sudbury goaltender Noah Metivier stopped 20 of 23 shots in the 4 – 3 win while Soo netminder Kolton Bourret turned away 36 of 40 shots in the loss.
Cub goaltender Noah Metivier told Saultsports that “I think we played an amazing game tonight, especially our special teams. That was the difference. With that being said the job isn’t finished so we’ve moved on from the win already and are now focusing on taking the series lead back in Sudbury. Playing in front of my family, it’s always incredible. The support they not only give me, but my team is truly amazing. I’m always happy when I get to play in front of them.”
The series will now return to Sudbury for a game five contest on Thursday, March 27th with a puck drop of 7:05 p.m with the best of seven west division tied 2 – 2.