Photo Credit: Freeze Frame Photos
In Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, the eats division Timmins Rock hit the ice at the John Rhodes Centre to face the Soo Thunderbirds on Saturday, February 17th after coming off a 17 – 0 win over the Elliot Lake Vikings 24 hours earlier in NOJHL action.
At 12:51 of the opening period, Jack Anderson skates coast to coast to rifle a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle over Thunderbird netminder Kolton Bourret’s left shoulder to give the Rock a 1 – 0 lead. Elijah Pool and Felix Cadieux-Fredette added the assists on Anderson’s ninth of the season. With 88 seconds remaining in the period, Kelsey Ouellet fires his 14th of the season with a snapshot from the top of the right faceoff circle through traffic over Timmins goaltender Dryden Riley’s left shoulder to even the the game 1 – 1 for the Soo. Daniel Beaupre and Connor Stokes registers the helpers on Ouellet’s tying goal. Five minutes into the second period with Thunderbird forward Samuel Lake in front of the Rock’s net on a powerplay, Lake catches a pass from behind Timmins’ net to slide the Soo’s go-ahead goal under Riley to give the hosts a 2 – 1 lead. Ouellet and Silas Crawford notched the contributors on Lake’s 14th of the season.
All alone in the right faceoff circle, Kapuskasing native Kelsey Ouellet rifles a slapshot past Dryden Riley for his second of the contest at 14:24 of the middle stanza. Defensemen Kolby Fellinger and Kaden Dundas drew the assists on Thunderbirds third of the game. With a scrum in front of the Rock’s crease, Samuel Lake picks up a rebound off of Riley’s chest to lift his second of the game past the Timmins’ goaltender at 12:40. Silas Crawford and Quinn Myles contributed on Lake’s powerplay marker to bring the lead to 4 – 1. Scoring his sixth of the season in a Thunderbird jersey, Jonathan Sonedecker skates across the blueline right to left to fire a snapshot along the ice to find the back of the Rock’s net under Riley’s blocker to give the Soo a 5 – 1 win over Timmins. Declan Gallivan and Jacob Smith added the contributors on Sonedecker’s powerplay goal at 16:15. Timmins’ goaltender Dryden Riley stopped 39 of 44 shots in the loss while Soo netminder Kolton Bourret turned away 17 of 18 shots in the win over the Rock.
The Thunderbirds next contest will be on Wednesday, February 21st when they head across the St Mary’s River to take on their cross border rivals, the Soo Eagles in a 7:00 p.m west division matchup.
