Photo: Freeze Frame Photos
On the second place (29-11-3-2) Soo Thunderbirds opened their back to back weekend on Saturday, February 11th with a stop in Espanola for a west division matchup against the third place (22-18-2-2) Paper Kings with the Thunderbirds 25 points head of the Paper Kings heading into the back to back weekend.
On a powerplay, Thunderbird Daniel Beaupre catches a cross crease pass from Jackson Truchan 24 seconds into the middle stanza at the right post of Espanola goaltender Jake Marois to slide the opening goal under the Paper King goaltender. Brodie McConnell-Baker drew the other helper on Beaupre’s 14th of the season. McConnell-Baker picks up a rebound off of Marois’ left pad from in front of the Paper Kings’ net to bring the lead to 2 – 0 for the Soo. Beaupre and Wyatt Marlow had the assists on McConnell-Baker’s seventh of the season 58 seconds in the period. Scoring his fifth goal of the season all alone in front of Espanola’s net, Samuel Lake finds the five hole of Marois to slide the Soo’s third past the Paper King goaltender to give the Thunderbirds a 3 – 0 lead. Beaupre and Wyatt Marlow drew the contributors on Lake’s goal 21 seconds before the midway mark of the period. At 14:38 of the second with both teams serving penalties, Lucas Signoretti sinks his 30th of the season with a snapshot for the Paper Kings lone goal of the game at 14:38 for Espanola behind Thunderbird netminder Landon Miller. Joshua Rumolo notched the assist on Signoretti’s goal. With 80 seconds remaining in the period, Wyatt Marlow skates across the Paper Kings blueline to rifle a wrist shot from the top of the right faceoff circle past Marois’ left shoulder to increase the Soo’s lead to 4 – 1. Lake and McConnell-Baker registered the helpers on Marlow’s 18th of the season. With Espanola goaltender Creedon Dyck challenging Alex Remenda in front of the Paper Kings’ net, Remenda scores his third of the season shorthanded unassisted under a sprawling Espanola goaltender to give the Thunderbirds a 5 – 1 road win. Paper King goaltenders Jake Marois and Creedon Dyck combined to stop 39 of 44 shots in Espanola’s 19th loss of the season while Thunderbird netminder Landon Miller turns away 35 of 36 shots in the Soo’s 30th win of 2022 – 2023.
The Thunderbirds return home to round out a back to back weekend against the Paper Kings with a 2:00 p.m puck drop at the John Rhodes Centre in an afternoon matinee on Sunday, February 12th.
