By Matt Stefano
The Soo Thunderbirds scored twice in the first, five times in the second and twice in the third as they went on to hammer the French River Rapids 9-2 at the Essar Centre on Friday night.
It was a historic night for T-Birds defenceman Caleb Boman as his 21st career goal at the 15:02 mark of the second period, set the new Soo Thunderbirds record for most career goals amongst defencemen, passing Justin Shelleby (2004-2006) and Bronson Kovacs (2006-2010), who both shared the previous record with 20.
“It felt pretty good,” said Boman, who finished off the night with a goal and an assist. “I knew I could’ve got it under the belt tonight and I just bared down to score my 21st career goal.
Matt Pinder (power play) and Matt Caruso had a goal and two assists each for the T-Birds while Ryan Mulligan and Nathan Hebert chipped in with three assists each. T-Birds defenceman Mike Caruso got his second straight two goal game on Friday night after scoring twice including the overtime winner this past Sunday in Powassan while forward Jaren Bellini also found the back of the net twice. Matt Busby and Izaak Del Mastro had the other goals for the Soo while single assists went to Brandon Grandinetti, Khadyn Butterfly, Drake Pilon, Mark Tassone and Zach Senecal.
Taylor Karr and Eric Paquette had the goals for French River while assists went to Bret McInall, Zac McInall and Adrian Nicholas.
T-Birds goalie Connor Ryckman made 10 saves for the victory while Rapids net minder Kyle Martelle gave up 7 goals on 30 shots before being replaced by Zach Mills, who let in 2 goals on 10 shots the rest of the way.
Next action for the T-Birds is Saturday, January 16th at 7:30 p.m. vs the Elliot Lake Wildcats from the Essar Centre.
(Photo of Caleb Boman credit to Matt Stefano)
