TIMMINS, Ont. – The surging Soo Thunderbirds scored six times on the power play and went on to defeat the Timmins Rock 7-2 Friday for their 11th straight Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League victory in a match-up in front of nearly 1,200 spectators at McIntyre Arena.
Capitalizing on the night’s initial man advantage, Sault Ste. Marie went in front just over two minutes in as Jacob Smith stuffed in a backhand off a Declan Gallivan attempt from the point.
Adding another extra-man effort deep in the frame, Silas Crawford lifted one in on a downed Patrick Boivin in the Timmins crease.
The Thunderbirds weren’t done as Daniel Beaupre made it 3-0 at 19:23 when he buried his club’s third additional skater effort of the session.
A fourth power play tally by the Soo, early in the middle stanza, extended the visitors lead with Smith supplying his second of the night as he steered in a sharp Gallivan pass from the left side.
The T-Birds kept coming and an even strength effort put them up by five when Quinn Myles drove down the slot and made a move to his right before tucking in his 10th of the campaign.
That also resulted in Timmins making a goaltending change, with back-up Dryden Riley entering the contest.
Getting one back, Mason Svarich reached the 40-goal plateau on the campaign at 11:45 as he took a cross-ice pass from Lucas Lowe and ripped it past the Soo’s Kolton Bourret.
Striking on the next shift, Brant Romaniuk made it 5-2 as he opted to shoot on a three-on-one and put one short side on Bourret.
The Soo’s special teams put the game away in the third though as they tacked on two more on the man advantage with Grayson Ebrahim jamming one in from close range at 11:40 before Gallivan whipped a wrister from just inside the blueline that was redirected by Kelsey Ouellet, parked in front, past a blocked-out Riley to cap-off the scoring.
The victory extended the Thunderbirds’ winning to 11 as they improved to 38-13-4-1 overall while with the loss, the Rock fell to 40-15-2-0.
Game Photos:
Thomas Perry – The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
“Highlight of the Night” – NOJHL YouTube Channel
