By Matt Stefano
Another game. Another 5-2 score.
But this time it wasn’t 5-2 for the Soo Thunderbirds.
After picking up back-to-back 5-2 victories against the Greater Sudbury Cubs in the first two games of the NOJHL West Division final series last week in Sudbury, the Soo Thunderbirds ended up losing to the Cubs by a score of 5-2 in game 3 of the West Division final series at the John Rhodes Community Centre on Easter Monday.
After skating to a 2-2 tie through forty minutes of play, the Cubs then ended up scoring three goals in the final frame.
“I think the Cubs were more desperate coming into our rink tonight down two-games-to-none,” said Soo Thunderbirds forward Daniel Beaupre. “They had the jump tonight and we just didn’t quite have it.”
During Monday night’s game, Cubs forward Pierson Sobush led the way offensively with four points, including one goal and three assists.
Sobush’s goal, came at the 13:58 mark of the third period from Christopher Innes and Cameron Shanks, which at that time made the score 5-2.
“Sobey played well like everybody else did on our team tonight,” said Greater Sudbury Cubs head coach Darryl Moxam. “During this playoff season, Sobey has been a bit snake bitten but when you look at him, he’s one of the leaders on our hockey club even though he’s a very young man in this league right now. Pierson has been a leader for us both on and off the ice, and we always tell our guys that if you expect to score goals and are not getting chances, then we’ll look at more video and try to figure out why. But Pierson has been getting chances and he’s not going to change his game, and tonight just happened to be the night where the puck went his way.”
Monday night’s game was also a historic night for Cubs defenceman Christopher Innes, after he drew an assist on Sobush’s goal in the third period.
Innes, who drew an assist on Sobush’s goal, gave himself his eleventh career playoff point, which tied the franchise record for most career playoff points by a defenceman, joining Jordan Spadafore (2015-2018).
“It’s always nice to see an individual achievement like that and that’s a big thing for him,” Moxam said. “Innes is still only 19-years-old and hopefully he’ll be here with us next year too. He’s a great kid and he’s played everywhere that we’ve asked of him this year. He’s been upfront, he’s been in the backend and he’s no different than anybody else in our room, because whenever you achieve individual success, you have to achieve team success first.”
“It actually feels unreal that I tied a franchise record tonight and I had no clue it was even in play,” Innes added. “I’m also more happy that we got the win tonight and now we’re going to come out flying tomorrow (Tuesday) in game 4.”
Billy Biedermann also had a big night offensively for the Cubs on Monday night, as he had a pair of goals and a helper while Kyloe Ellis and Oilver Smith both had a goal and an assist each.
Smith’s goal, came on a breakaway at the 16:57 mark of the second period, which at that time tied the game at two heading into the third.
“After the second period, we ended up coming out flat in the third,” Beaupre said. “If we want to win this series, we need to come out with more energy on Tuesday night in game 4.”
Matthew Mazzotta and Samuel Assinewai also got on the scoresheet for the Cubs with one assist each.
Justin Mauro and Daniel Beaupre had the goals for the T-Birds while Jackson Truchan, Dharan Cap and Brock Santa Maria all set up a goal each.
T-Birds netminder Landon Miller gave up 5 goals on 40 shots in the loss Cubs goaltender Noah Metiver made 27 saves for the victory.
The T-Birds will now be back in action on Tuesday, April 11 for game 4 of the NOJHL West Division final series, beginning at 7:00 p.m. at the John Rhodes.
(Photo credit to Bob Davies)
