At the John Rhodes Community Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, the Soo Thunderbirds and Greater Sudbury Cubs faced off on Saturday, October 18th, in a key NOJHL regular season matchup with just a single point separating the two clubs in the West Division standings. The fourth-place Thunderbirds (8-3-0-1) entered the contest looking to create distance from the fifth-place Cubs (8-5), but after 65 minutes of high-intensity hockey, the teams skated to a hard-fought draw.

After a scoreless opening period where both goaltenders stood tall, the Thunderbirds broke through midway through the second. At 10:55, Deven Jones-McDonald buried his eighth goal of the season, cleaning up a rebound off Cubs netminder Mateo Beites after Aiden Atkinson’s shorthanded breakaway attempt. The tally gave the Soo a 1–0 lead heading into the final frame.

The Cubs responded in the third period when Nolan Newton found himself alone in front of the net and lifted a bouncing rebound over Soo goaltender Ryan Hicks at 10:41. Newton’s 13th goal of the season was assisted by Mason Walker and Spencer Horgan, tying the game 1–1.

Despite several quality chances in overtime, neither side could find the game-winner. Hicks was exceptional between the pipes for the Thunderbirds, turning aside 45 of 46 shots, while Beites stopped 24 of 25 for Sudbury in the evenly matched contest.

Thunderbird coach Jamie Henderson told Saultsports that “our goaltending was great all weekend. Hicksy tonight made some huge saves, especially in that second period when we had a few penalties. It was a tight checking game as we expected even in OT.”

Next up, the Greater Sudbury Cubs return home on Thursday, October 23rd, to host the Blind River Beavers, while the Soo Thunderbirds are back on home ice on Friday, October 24th, when they welcome their cross-border rivals, the Soo Eagles.