Photo Credit: Freeze Frame Photos
After a 7 – 4 game four loss on home ice in Sault Ste Marie on Monday, April 24th to the Timmins Rock in game four of the Copeland McNamara Cup, the Soo Thunderbirds hit the highway tied 2 – 2 in the best of seven series to face the Timmins Rock on Wednesday, April 26th for the fifth game in seven days.
Only fifty seconds into game five, Harry Clark picks up a rebound in front of the Thunderbirds crease off of Soo netminder Landon Miller’s left pad to give the Rock a 1 – 0 lead. Nicholas Frederick and Kenyon Nyman drew the helpers on Clark’s third of the postseason. On a Timmins powerplay, Justin Charette finds the back of the Soo net with the Rock’s second goal slid under a sprawling Landon Miller to give the hosts a 2 – 0 lead at 18:09. Ethan Pool and Brandon Rossetti had the assists on Charette’s third of the playoffs. With four seconds remaining in the period and scoring their second powerplay marker of the contest, Brandon Rossetti rifles a snapshot from the top of the left faceoff circle past Landon Miller to bring the Rock’s lead to 3 – 0. Felix Cadieux-Fredette and Ethan Pool registered the contributors on Rossetti’s third of the postseason. With the Thunderbirds on a powerplay and catching a pass from the back left side of the Rock’s net from Soo captain Brock Santa Maria, Thunderbird veteran forward Dharan Cap fires the visitors first goal of the game from his knees in front of the crease past Timmins’ goaltender Patrick Boivin to pull the Soo with two at 16:33 of the second. Jackson Truchan notched the other assist on Cap’s tenth playoff goal of the season. With Thunderbird netminder Landon Miller on the bench for an extra attacker, Youssef Chaouachi wraps a pass around the left post to Brock Santa Maria to slide the visitors second goal under Patrick Boivin to pull the Soo within one at 17:41 of the third, Justin Mauro also contributed on Santa Maria’s fifth of the postseason. Timmins goaltender Patrick Boivin stopped 19 of 21 shots in the Rock’s 3 – 1win while Soo netminder Landon Miller turned away 20 of 23 shots in the Thunderbirds game five loss.
“Pretty simple, play the whole 60 minutes of game six with same desperation, urgency discipline as we showed in the last 40 minutes tonight. If we do that then we will give ourselves a chance to win a hockey game,” added Thunderbird coach Cole Jarrett.
The Rock will take a 3 – 2 Copeland McNamara Cup series lead into Sault Ste Marie for a game six contest on Sunday, April 30th in a 7:00 p.m puck drop at the John Rhodes Centre.
