Photo Credit: Freeze Frame Photos
After a 5 – 4 overtime loss in Iroquois Falls to the first place east division Storm on Friday, September 15th, the fourth place west division (1-1-1) Soo Thunderbirds took to the ice at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex on Saturday, September 16th against the fifth place (0-2-1) Kirkland Lake Gold Miners on Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action.
With the Gold Miners on a powerplay at 5:29 of the opening period, Benjamin Armatage picks a loose puck in front of the Thunderbird crease to fire the first goal of the contest past Thunderbird rookie netminder Troy Rossetto to give Kirkland Lake a 1 – 0 lead. Jesse Dupuis and Noah Woodard added the helpers on Armatage’s powerplay marker. Thomas Degagne splits Kirkland Lake’s defense to lift the tying goal over Gold Miner goaltender Braydon Garnhart to even the game 1 – 1 for the Soo. Captain Kolby Fellinger and rookie Evan Roach notched the contributors on Degagne’s first of the 2023 season at 6:10. Scoring his second of the contest, Degagne slides his second of the period under a sprawling Garnhart at 14:33 to give the Thunderbirds a 2 – 1 lead. Adam Kukko drew the lone assist on Degagne’s goal. On a Thunderbirds powerplay, Daniel Beaupre catches a pass from behind the net from Kelsey Ouelett to sink the visitors third goal past Garnhart at 15:50 to send the Soo into the first intermission up 3 – 1. Declan Gallivan registered the other helper on Beaupre’s second of the season.
At 3:04 of the middle stanza, Kirkland Lake’s Aiden Beavan fires the Gold Miners second of the game behind Rosetto with a pass from the left corner from Nolan Rosko-Fong to close the gap to one. Cole Ellis had the other assist on Beavan’s first of the season. With a scramble in front of the Soo net, Inde Abresch slide the tying goal under Rossetto to pull the hosts even 3 – 3 at 3:36 of the second. Joseph Bastien – Picard and Woodard had the contributors on Abresch’s first of the season. After a bounce in the Thunderbird crease, Bruce Grey picks up a loose puck to sink his first of the season to give the Gold Miners a 4 – 3 lead at 6:45 of the second. Jonah McIndoo and Rosko-Fong added the assists on Grey’s first of the 2023 season.
From the left faceoff circle, Woodard scores his third of the season with a Kirkland Lake goal over Rossetto’s catcher to increase the Gold Miners lead to 5 – 3. Grey and Bastien – Pickard setup Woodard’s goal at 4:26 of the final period. To the left of the Soo net, Jesse Dupuis sinks his second of the season to bring the lead to 6 – 3 for Kirkland Lake. Jared Gull – Georgekish and Armatage notched the contributors on the hosts seventh of the game at 4:51. With the Gold Miners on a power play, Cole Ellis fires a slapshot from the left blueline through traffic to find the back of Rossetto’s net at 10:15 of the third. Grey and Abresch drew the assists on Ellis’ first of the season. Scoring the final goal of the game and second straight powerplay goal. Woodard registers his fourth point of the game on his second goal of the contest to give the Gold Miners a 8 – 3 win over the Thunderbirds. Beavan and Bastien – Picard added the assists on Woodard’s powerplay marker. Kirkland Lake goaltender Braydon Garnhart stopped 34 of 37 shots in the win while Thunderbird rookie netminder Troy Rossetto finished the game with turning away 41 of 49 shots in the Soo loss on the road.
The (1-2-1) Thunderbirds will now head to Timmins for a 3:00 p.m afternoon matinee on Sunday, September 16th against the east division Timmins Rock while the Gold Miners host the Elliot Lake Vikings in a 2:00 p.m puck drop on September 16th in Kirkland Lake.
