Coming off a 4 – 0 shutout win in Cochrane, Ontario on Saturday, September 24th over the Cochrane Crunch, the fifth place (3-4) Soo Thunderbirds headed east to face the third place (5-2-1) Greater Sudbury Cubs in a west division NOJHL matchup on Saturday, October 1st.

Finding the back of Soo Thundebird netminder Kolton Bourret’s net, Cole Crowder sinks the opening goal 3:30 into the second period to give the Cubs a 1 – 0 lead with an unassisted goal. Nolan Newton sets up Cameron Walker for Sudbury’s second goal of the period to give the hosts a 2 – 0 lead at the 5:56 mark of the second. At 13:02 of the second, Oliver Smith fires the Cubs third of the game to increase Sudbury’s lead to 3 – 0 with the lone contributor coming from Billy Biedermann. Farmington, Michigan native Jackson Truchan sends the Thunderbirds into the second intermission down by only two with the Soo’s first of the contest on a power play with 56 seconds remaining in the second. Veteran forward Youssef Chaouchi added the helper on Truchan’s first of the 2022 – 2023 season. Nolan Newton scores the Cubs fourth goal of the game at 15:59 of the third to give Sudbury their sixth win of the season. Marshall McCharles and Nicholas Toffoli registers the assists on Newton’s goal. Sudbury goaltender Nathaniel Boyes turned away 16 of 17 shots in the Cubs 4 – 1 win while Thunderbird netminder Kolton Bourret stops 21 of 25 shots in the Soo’s fifth loss of the season.

The Thunderbirds will head back to Sudbury for back to back games at the 2022 NOJHL Showcase on Tuesday, September 4th and Wednesday, September 5th with matchups against two east division rivals in the Timmins Rock on Tuesday at 6:45 p.m followed by the Hearst Lumberjacks on Wednesday in a 1:00 p.m matinee puck drop at the Countryside Sports Complex.