By Matt Stefano
Call him Austin Power!
On Tuesday night, Soo Thunderbirds rookie defenceman Austin Fellinger scored the overtime goal just a couple minutes into the first overtime period, as the Soo Thunderbirds went on to defeat the Greater Sudbury Cubs by a score of 4-3 at the John Rhodes Community Centre in game 4 of the NOJHL West Division final series.
With the win, the Thunderbirds now lead the series three-games-to-one, with the series shifting back to Sudbury for game 5 on Thursday night.
“It’s a surreal feeling, but the job is not finished yet because we need to win one more game on Thursday,” said Fellinger, whose team is now just one win away from making it to the NOJHL final for the second straight year.
At the 1:59 mark of the first overtime period, Fellinger notched his first goal of the playoffs from Dharan Cap and Anton Petrovskiy, which gave the Thunderbirds a 4-3 victory.
Fellinger’s goal in overtime, also turned out to be his first career game-winning goal.
“To be honest, when I shot the puck on net, at first I didn’t think I put it in,” Fellinger said. “At first I thought Anton (Petrovskiy) put it in, but it’s an awesome feeling to get the boys the third win, and now we feel a lot better heading to Sudbury for game 5 on Thursday night.”
The Thunderbirds, who defeated the Cubs 4-3 in overtime on Tuesday night, trailed the Cubs 2-1 after the first period and 3-2 after the second.
After being outshot by the Cubs 27-19 through forty minutes of play, the Thunderbirds then ended up outshooting the Cubs 14-10 in the third period.
“I thought we had a slow start tonight, but after the second period, we started picking things up and we ended up controlling the game,” Fellinger said. “We figured out Sudbury’s game plan and they were kinda peeking their forwards, but then we changed our game plan and came out on top.”
On Tuesday night, Thunderbirds defenceman Ranon Joseph led the way offensively with a goal and two helpers, good for his first multi-point game of the playoffs.
Joseph, who had three points in Tuesday night’s win, has now given himself 1 goal and 4 assists in 9 playoff games played.
“I’m really happy I got to help my team get the victory tonight, but the job is not done yet though because we still have one more game to win,” Joseph said.
Youssef Chaouachi and Tyler Boudreau had the other goals for the Thunderbirds on Tuesday night while Daniel Beaupre and Kaden Dundas both had one assist each.
Chaouachi’s goal, came with just 43 seconds left to go in the third period, which tied the game at three heading into overtime.
Cubs defenceman Kyloe Ellis led the way offensively for his club on Tuesday night as he recorded two assists, good for his second straight multi-point game.
Ellis, who had two assists on Tuesday night in game 4, also had two assists against the Thunderbirds on Monday night in game 3.
Nolan Newton, Cameron Walker and Cole Crowder had the goals for the Cubs on Tuesday night while Matthew Mazzotta, Marshall McCharles and Oliver Smith all chipped in with one assist each.
Cubs goaltender Noah Metiver gave up 4 goals on 38 shots in the loss while Thunderbirds netminder Landon Miller made 29 saves for the victory.
SHOULD I PLAY OR SHOULD I GO?
Prior to the overtime period on Tuesday night in game 4, Thunderbirds rookie defenceman Austin Fellinger made a joke with his team in the dressing room saying that he wasn’t sure if he wanted to get a chance to play in the overtime period.
And then just a couple minutes in, he ended up scoring the overtime goal!
“There was a joke in the dressing room during the third intermission when Austin said he didn’t need to get his stick taped up, because he didn’t want a chance to play in overtime. But I told him in the room to be ready just incase, and then he scored, so obviously it paid off,” said Soo Thunderbirds defenceman Ranon Joseph.
READY TO ROCK?
If the Soo Thunderbirds end up defeating the Greater Sudbury Cubs on Thursday night in Sudbury, the Thunderbirds will then move on to play the Timmins Rock in the NOJHL final.
On Tuesday night, the Timmins Rock defeated the Powassan Voodoos by a score of 5-3 in game 4 of the NOJHL East Division final series, and have now swept the series against the Voodoos in four straight.
The NOJHL final is expected to get underway on Thursday, April 20, with game one taking place in Timmins.
More dates and times will be announced following the winner between the Soo and Greater Sudbury.
(Photo credit to Bob Davies)
