After suffering a narrow 4–3 loss to the Blind River Beavers on February 14th in Sault Ste. Marie, the fifth-place Soo Thunderbirds (26-14-2) returned to home ice on Saturday, February 21st, looking to close the gap on the fourth-place Powassan Voodoos (29-11-2) in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action at the John Rhodes Centre. Entering the contest, the Voodoos held 61 points, five ahead of the Thunderbirds in the tightly contested NOJHL standings.

The Thunderbirds wasted little time asserting themselves in the opening period. At 3:50, James Legler opened the scoring on the power play, burying his 18th goal of the season with assists from Aiden Atkinson and Declan Gallivan to give the Soo a 1–0 lead. The home side doubled their advantage at 12:55 when Gavin Killoran finished off a strong offensive shift, notching his 19th of the campaign with helpers from Vincent Bondy and Issy Parsa to make it 2–0.

The second period proved to be a defensive battle, with both teams trading chances but neither able to find the back of the net. Thunderbirds goaltender Nathan Maguire was especially sharp, turning aside multiple Powassan opportunities to preserve the two-goal cushion heading into the final frame.

Powassan finally broke through late in the third period. At 14:14, Heath Bradley pulled the Voodoos within one, scoring his 10th of the season off an assist from Ryan Saginaw to make it 2–1. Despite late pressure from the visitors, the Thunderbirds held firm defensively.

Maguire was the difference in the contest, stopping 38 of 39 shots to earn the win for the Soo. On the other side, Cole Vreugdenhil made 21 saves on 23 shots in the loss for Powassan.

With the defeat, the Voodoos will look to bounce back quickly as they head to Blind River for a Sunday afternoon matinee on February 22nd, with puck drop set for 1:00 p.m. Meanwhile, the Thunderbirds will turn their attention to a home matchup against the Soo Eagles on Friday, February 27th, when they return to the John Rhodes Centre for a 7:00 p.m. start.