Photo Credit: Freeze Frame Photos

The Soo Thunderbirds tightened their hold on third place in the NOJHL standings Friday night with a decisive 6–2 victory over the visiting Espanola Paper Kings at the John Rhodes Centre. Entering the matchup separated by just a single point in the standings, the Thunderbirds (16-7-1-1) made a strong statement against the fifth-place Paper Kings (16-9-0-1), fueled by a breakout performance from forward Gavin Killoran, who recorded his first Junior ‘A’ hat trick—and then added a fourth for good measure.

The Thunderbirds struck early in the opening period when Adam Pszeniczny netted his ninth of the season at 3:38, set up by James Legler and Gianmarco Mastroianni. The early pressure continued, and at 13:23, Killoran tallied his eighth of the year, finishing off a crisp passing play from Deven Jones-McDonald and Landon Hill to give the Soo a 2–0 lead heading into the first intermission.

The middle frame belonged entirely to the Thunderbirds—particularly Killoran. At 11:58, he scored his second of the night and ninth of the season, converting on a feed from Mastroianni and Callum McAuley. Just 1:08 later, Killoran completed his first Junior ‘A’ hat trick, wiring home his 10th of the campaign with assists credited to Jones-McDonald and Mastroianni. The Soo continued to press, and at 17:38, McAuley joined the scoring parade with his 11th of the season, assisted by Brayden Gosselin and Legler, sending the Thunderbirds to the dressing room with a commanding 5–0 advantage.

The Paper Kings refused to go quietly in the third. At 2:44, Samuel Gravel notched his first of the season, set up by Callum Millar and Carter Makasoff, breaking the shutout bid of Soo netminder Ryan Hicks. Espanola added another at 7:54 when Matthew Spencer scored unassisted to narrow the gap to 5–2. But the Thunderbirds sealed the deal on the power play at 13:29, as Killoran buried his fourth goal of the night—his 11th of the season—off a setup from McAuley.

Between the pipes, Hicks was steady, stopping 30 of 32 shots to secure the victory. Espanola’s tandem of Jack Helkie and Logan Vale combined to turn away 43 of 49 shots in the loss.

With the win, the Thunderbirds extend their edge over Espanola in the standings and continue their strong November stretch. They now prepare for a Sunday afternoon matinee on November 30th, when they host the Blind River Beavers at 2:00 p.m., once again at the John Rhodes Centre.