By Matt Stefano
Heading into Friday night’s game with a 5-0 record, the Soo Thunderbirds were looking to go 6-0 for the first time since 2001-2002, but had to do it against a perfect 5-0 Cochrane Crunch.
These clubs met for the first time since April 19th, 2015, when the T-Birds defeated them in the NOJHL finals to go on to their third Copeland Cup McNamara Trophy in franchise history.
Dustin Cordeiro made it 1-0 Crunch 7:17 into the first from Kyle Sanford. Oshawa Generals prospect Zach Senecal notched his third of the season from Brandon Grandinetti to tie things up at one just under halfway through the first. With just a minute to go in the first, Jeremy McNeil’s power play goal and third of the season from Joseph Thielen and Joey Marvin put Cochrane ahead 2-1 through twenty.
T-Birds leading scorer Matt Pinder extended his goal scoring streak to six games on the power play with his seventh of the season just 3:46 into the second from Matt Caruso and Darian Pilon to tie the game up at two. Hunter Atchison’s seventh from Jeran Knorr put the Crunch ahead 3-2 at 12:33.
With the T-Birds trailing by one heading into the third, Cochrane added some insurance late in the third. Jay Shidu’s first of the season from Braedan Pearce and Zak Stepaniuk with 5:41 to go gave Cochrane a two goal lead as the T-Birds fell to the Crunch 4-2.
T-Birds goalie Nathan Warren gave up four goals on forty seven shots while Crunch net minder Brett Young made forty three saves for their sixth straight victory.
The Thunderbirds will be in Iroquois Falls on Saturday to take on the Eskis from the Jus Jordan Arena at 7:30 p.m.
ALUMNI NEWS
Former Soo Thunderbirds forward Boris Katchouk scored his first Ontario Hockey League goal for the Soo Greyhounds on Friday night in their home and season opener against the Windsor Spitfires. The Waterloo, Ontario native was also named third star of the game in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Spits.
This marks the second time for Katchouk to be named a star of the game in the OHL, dating back to January 4th, 2015, when he was named third star of the game recording two assists for the Greyhounds in a 6-4 loss to the Oshawa Generals. During the 2014-2015 season with the Thunderbirds, Boris also suited up for a dozen games with the Hounds.