Photos: Justin Cairns
SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. – The Soo Eagles built up a big cushion heading onto the third period, then had to withstand a late push by the Soo Thunderbirds before eventually prevailing 7-4 in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League cross-border affair at Pullar Stadium.
The Thunderbirds were quick to take the lead as Aiden Atkinson finished off a give-and-go with Adam Pszeniczny as he lifted in his 14th of the season past Eagles’ starter Dalton Hoornstra, 71 seconds into contest.
Answering with an equalizer 10 minutes later, Colton Huckson sent a shot through traffic from the left point that was redirected in by Carter Huckson, in eluding T-Birds’ netminder Ryan Hicks.
Bagging one late, the Eagles took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission when Ethan Hoff took a down-low pass from Logan Stawizynski and promptly pumped it past Hicks at 19:14.
Action in the second stanza saw the hosts add to their edge as they tallied twice in rapid succession, with markers less than a minute apart, before the midway mark of the frame.
Jacob Petterson potted the third for his club at 8:47 as he took a pass from Lucas Caulfield and whipped it in from the right side before Stawizynski found the range as he outraced a defender to the puck on a dump in and lifted it in.
The Eagles kept coming and made it 5-1 when Hoff slid in his second of the night.
Capping off the outburst in the session, Gabriel Clark ripped a shot off the post and into the net to put his side seemingly in control.
In the final frame, the Thunderbirds began their comeback bid at 4:22 when Atkinson fired in cross-crease feed from Landon Hill.
The visitors then tacked on another less than a minute later when Owen Murphy darted in from the neutral zone, then after driving wide on the left side, pumped one through Hoornstra.
A third in the period saw the Thunderbirds’ Wyatt Groth make it 6-4 as he stuffed in a rebound off a Max DeCoff attempt.
They then got their goaltender out late for another skater to try and get closer, but the Eagles withstood the pressure sealed the outcome when Hoff iced it with a long-range empty net effort to collect his initial NOJHL hat trick in completing the evening’s scoring.
With the result, the Eagles improve to 18-19-2-1 overall and in defeat, the Thunderbirds slip to 22-13-2-2.
