Photo Credit: Freeze Frame Photos
Coming splitting game one and game two of the west division semi final between the Soo Thunderbirds and Sudbury Cubs on March 21st and 22nd in Sudbury, the Soo Thunderbirds returned to Sault Ste Marie for game three on Monday, March 24th of the best of seven series after a game two win over the Cubs.
At 13:12 of the opening period, Thunderbird forward Harley Wardell fires a shot along the ice to slide the Soo first goal of the contest under Cub goaltender Noah Metivier to give the hosts a 1 – 0 lead. Daniel Beaupre and Callum McAuley added the helpers on Wardell’s first of the postseason. On a Soo powerplay, Declan Gallivan fires snapshot from just inside the centre of Sudbury’s blueline through traffic to be redirected by veteran forward Kelsey Ouellet at 14:56 of the first with Jacob Smith drawing the other assist on Ouellet’s second of the playoffs. From between the faceoff circle in front of the Soo crease Marshall McCharles slid the Cubs first under Thunderbird netminder Kolton Bourret to pull Sudbury within one at 16:14 of the first. Mason and Hudson Chitaroni notched the contributors on McCharles second of the postseason.
With Jonathan Sonedecker just inside the centre of the Cubs blueline, the Thunderbird forward rifles a wrist shot through traffic underneath Metivier catcher to bring the Soo’s lead to 3 – 1 at the 2:01 mark of the second. Crawford and Kolby Fellinger register the assists on Sonedecker’s second of the series. Marshall McCharles drop passes the puck to Hudson Chitaroni in the left faceoff circle to find the back of Bourret’s net over the Soo netminder’s left shoulder 2:10 into the final period to close the gap to one. With the Thunderbirds shorthanded and the Cubs skating with a six on four, Daniel Beaupre picks a rolling puck to find an empty net unassisted with Metivier on Sudbury’s bench for an extra attacker to give the Soo a 4 – 2 game three win at 8:39 of the third. Cub goaltender Noah Metivier stopped 28 of 31 shots in the loss while Thunderbird netminder Kolton Bourret turned away 32 of 34 shots in the game three win.
Game four will start at 7:00 p.m on Tuesday, March 25th with the Thunderbirds leading the best of seven series 2 – 1 when they take to the ice at the John Rhodes Centre.
