Photo: Freeze Frame Photos
The first place (25-10-2-1) Soo Thunderbirds hit the road for a Friday, January 20th west division contest against the fifth place (12-22-1-2) Red Wings in Elliot Lake.
At 12:58 of the opening period from the far left boards, Thunderbird Dharan Cap fires the opening goal past Red Wing goaltender Sean Guerin to give the visitors a 1 – 0 lead. Youssef Chaouachi and Ranon Joseph added the helpers on Cap’s 20th of the season. With six seconds remaining in the first period, Alex Antoine slides Elliot Lake’s first of the game under Thunderbird netminder Kolton Bourret to send the Red Wings into the first intermission tied 1 – 1. Sam Noad drew the lone contributor on Antoine’s tying goal. Austin Fellinger catches a cross crease pass from Samuel Lake at 3:50 of the middle stanza to give the Soo a 2 – 1 lead on Fellinger’s fifth of the season. Zachary Vickerman picks up a rebound off of Bourret to lift the tying goal over the Thunderbird netminder to pull the hosts even 2 – 2 at the 7:10 mark of the second. Noah Aboflan and Evan Dantas notched the assists on Vickerman’s tying goal. With a pass from the left blueline from Kaden Dundas, Jackson Truchan finds the back of Elliot Lake’s net for his 18th of the season to give the Thunderbirds a 3 – 2 lead. Ranon Joseph set up Truchan’s go-ahead goal at 16:52.
Scoring his second of the period, Jackson Truchan catches a pass from Soo captain Brock Santa Maria at the 18:05 mark to bring the Thunderbirds’ lead to 4 – 2. Michael Chaffay added the other helper on Truchan’s goal. With Guerin on the Red Wings bench for an extra attacker, Michael Chaffay finds an emoty Elliot Lake net for his ninth of the season to give the Soo a 5 – 2 win. Chaouachi and Cap registered the assists on Chaffay’s empty net goal. Elliot Lake’s Sean Guerin turned away 26 of 30 shots in the Red Wings 23rd loss of the season while Thunderbird netminder Kolton Bourret stopped 11 of 13 shots in the Soo’s 26th win of the season.
The Thunderbirds will now return to Sault Ste Marie for a Saturday, January 21st matchup against their cross border rivals, the Soo Eagles in a 7:00 p.m puck drop at the John Rhodes Centre.
