Photo Credit: Freeze Frame Photos
At the John Rhodes Centre in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, the third place (31-13-4-1) Soo Thunderbirds hosted the fifth place (31-19-1-2) Soo Eagles in a west division matchup on Saturday, March 2nd. The Thunderbirds come into the March 2nd contest with 49 regular season games played while the Eagles have played 53 regular season games and are only two points back of the Thunderbirds. Saturday’s matchup was the third straight game in a roll against the Thunderbirds winning the last two over the Eagles. Coming off a 3 – 2 win over the Elliot Lake Vikings on Friday, March 1st, the Eagles opened up March 2024 with a 3 – 2 win in Massey, Ontario.
At 5:49 of the opening period and Eagle goaltender Anthony Zolezzi sprawled across the front of his crease, Daniel Beaupre slid the Thunderbirds first goal of the contest under Zolezzi to give hosts a 1 – 0 lead. Jacob Smith and Kelsey Ouellet added the contributors on Beaupre’s 20th of the season. Beaupre skates coast to coast up the left side of the ice to fire a pass to defenseman in front of the Eagles net to lift the Thunderbirds second over Zolezzi’s blocker at 11:32 of the first to give the Thunderbirds a 2 – 0 lead. Declan Gallivan drew the other assist on Myles fifth of the season. From just inside the centre of the Eagles blueline, Thunderbird captain Kolby Fellinger rifles a snapshot through traffic to be tipped by Grayson Ebrahim under Zolezzi’s left arm to increase the Thunderbirds lead to 3 – 0 at the 7:32 mark of the second. Kaden Dundas notched the other helper on Ebrahim’s 26th of the season.
With 2:48 left in the second period, Eagle Darby McCarthy catches a pass in front of Thunderbird netminder Kolton Bourret from the left faceoff by Alex Freund to pull the visitors within two for McCarthy’s 16th of the season. With Tyler Fortson hooking Kelsey Ouellet between the faceoff circles, Ouellet fires a wrist shot from midair to find the back of Zolezzi’s net to bring the Thunderbirds’ lead to 4 – 1. Jacob Smith contributed on Ouellet’s 17th goal of the season at 13:21 of the third. With a scrum in front of the Thunderbirds’ net and Bourret sprawled across his crease, Alex Freund lifted his twelfth of the season over Bourret for the Eagles second and final goal of the contest at 14:36. Drew Dellies and Lane Janssen registered the helpers on Freunds’ goal. With Zoelzzi on the Eagles bench for an extra attacker, Quinn Myles sank his sixth of the season unassisted to give the Thunderbirds a 5 – 2 win with 31 seconds remaining in Saturday’s contest. Eagle goaltender Anthony Zolezzi turned away 36 of 40 shots in the loss while Thunderbird netminder Kolton Bourret stopped 34 of 36 shots in the Thunderbirds 32nd win of the 2023 – 2024 season.
The Thunderbirds are back in action when they hit the road for an afternoon matinee in Massy when they face the Vikings in a 2:00 p.m puck drop.
