Photo: Freeze Frame Photos

Coming off a 5 – 3 loss in Espanola on Saturday, February 25th and seven points behind the Blind River Beavers, the (33-13-3-2) third place Soo Thunderbirds were back of the road to open the month of March 2023 with a west division matchup against the (37-11-2-2) second place Beavers at the Blind River Community Centre on Friday, March 3rd.

With the Beavers shorthanded at 4:52 of the middle stanza, Caleb Minns slides the opening goal under Thunderbird netminder Landon Miller to give Blind River a 1 – 0 lead with Nicholas Brady notching the lone helper on Minns 28th goal of the season. With Soo netminder Landon Miller on the Thunderbird bench for an extra attacker, Anrey Manov fires the Beavers second goal from his own end to give Blind River a 2 – 0 win over the visiting Thunderbirds. Beaver netminder Charlie Burns added the assist on Manov’s eighth of the season. Beaver goaltender Charlie Burns earned the shutout in Blind River’s 38th win of the 2022 – 2023 season.

Blind River coach Kyle Brick told Saultsports that “to be honest I thought tonight was a bit of a boring game from both sides, I didn’t think either team really brought it. We were fortunate to make a big play short handed and get the win.”

The Thunderbirds return to action for 7:00 p.m matchup on Saturday, March 5th in Elliot Lake to face the Red Wings in a west division action.