By Matt Stefano
After picking up a 5-3 win in their fourth consecutive meeting against the Blind River Beavers back on Tuesday night in the Soo, the Soo Thunderbirds were back in action on Saturday afternoon as they made the trip to Blind River for their fifth straight meeting against the Blind River Beavers at the Blind River Community Centre.
Defenceman Warner Young, who just turned 21 years old back on Tuesday, was also back in the Thunderbirds lineup after serving a two-game suspension.
A pair of power play tallies, plus an empty net goal really helped out the Beavers on Saturday afternoon as the Beavers defeated the Thunderbirds by a score of 4-1 at the Blind River Community Centre in Blind River.
Despite outshooting the Beavers 14-6 in the first period, the Thunderbirds trailed 1-0.
Ethan Pegg’s power play goal with just 15 ticks to go in the opening period, gave the Beavers a 1-0 lead.
Jacob Kelly and Thomas Michaud drew the assists on what would be Pegg’s second goal of the season.
The Thunderbirds would then get on the board just 1:20 into the second period, courtesy of Caleb Wood’s 5th goal of the season from Brock Santa Maria and Michael Chaffay, which tied the game up at one.
Then, just 5:10 later, it would be Beavers forward Thomas Michaud getting his 2nd goal of the season from Noah Minns, putting the home side up 2-1.
The score would then stay 2–1 for the Beavers heading into the third period.
With Thunderbirds goaltender Alex Bugeja getting a game-ejection for roughing at the end of the second period, it would be netminder Scott Young coming in to replace him in net to start the third.
The Beavers would then go up by a score of 3-1 just 45 ticks into the third period, courtesy of Noah Minns 6th goal of the season on the power play from Matt Cato and Jacob Kelly.
Then, with just 2:10 to go in the third period, it would be Beavers rookie forward Blake McNally getting his 1st goal of the season into an empty net, making the score 4-1.
Thunderbirds goaltender Alex Bugeja gave up 2 goals on 20 shots through forty minutes of play, before being ejected from the game, while Scott Young, who played in net for the Thunderbirds in the third period, gave up 1 goal on 9 shots.
Beavers goaltender Gavin Disano made 32 saves for the victory.
The Soo will now be back in action on Sunday afternoon to conclude their six-game cohort series against the Beavers, beginning at 2:00 p.m. at the Blind River Community Centre in Blind River.
(Photo credit to Bob Davies)
