Thunderbirds lose in overtime for the first time this season

By Matt Stefano

They led after the first period.

They led after the second period.

But for the first time this season, the Soo Thunderbirds ended up falling in overtime.

On Friday night, the Soo Thunderbirds suffered their first overtime loss of their 2022-2023 season as they fell to the Powassan Voodoos by a score of 4-3 in overtime at the Powassan Sportsplex in Powassan.

Prior to Friday night’s game in Powassan, the Soo Thunderbirds had 11 wins on the season, including 3 wins that were decided in overtime.

With the Thunderbirds on a power play late in the first period, it would be Thunderbirds leading scorer Dharan Cap scoring his 11th goal of the season at 19:25 from Youssef Chaouachi and Brodie McConnell-Barker, making the score 1-0 for the Thunderbirds heading into the second.

The Thunderbirds, who led the Voodoos 1-0 after twenty minutes of play, also outshot the Voodoos 13-6 in that opening frame.

After trailing the Thunderbirds 1-0 after twenty minutes of play, the Voodoos would then get on the board just 3:56 into the second, courtesy of Alex Little’s 5th goal of the season from Chase Thompson and Mitch Wilkie, which tied the game up at one.

The Soo would then respond less than three minutes later as captain Brock Santa Maria would notch his 3rd goal of the season at 6:36 from Daniel Beaupre, which made the score 2-1 for the Soo heading into the third.

With the Thunderbirds leading the Voodoos 2-1 early in the third, it would then be Voodoos forward Tucker Sheilds scoring his 9th goal of the season at 2:18 from Rhys Smetham, which tied things up at two.

The Thunderbirds would then retake the lead just 4:31 later as forward Dharan Cap would notch his second goal of the game and 12th goal of the season from Brodie McConnell-Barker and Youssef Chaouachi, which put the Soo up by a score of 3-2.

Cap, who scored his second goal of the night, also gave himself his second straight multi-goal game.

With the Thunderbirds leading the Voodoos 3-2 late in the third period, it would then be Voodoos forward Chase Thompson getting his 5th goal of the season from Kaedyn Long at 16:43, making the score 3-3 heading into overtime.

At the 4:14 mark of overtime, it would be forward Rhys Smetham getting the overtime tally on the power play from Thomas Gazich, which gave the Voodoos a 4-3 overtime victory over the Soo Thunderbirds.

Smetham, who finished the night with an overtime goal and an assist, also gave himself his first multi-point game in a Voodoos uniform.

Thunderbirds goaltender Kolton Bourret gave up 4 goals on 31 shots in the loss while Voodoos netminder Kannon Flageolle made 28 saves for the victory.

With the loss the, Soo Thunderbirds record has now fallen to 11 wins, 7 losses, 1 overtime loss and 1 shootout loss, while the Voodoos record has now improved to 14 wins and 6 losses.

The Voodoos, who entered Friday night’s game as the hottest team in the NOJHL’s East Division with 5-straight wins, also extended their winning streak to 6 games.

The last time the Voodoos had a 6-game winning streak, was back in the 2019-2020 season.

The Thunderbirds will now be right back in action on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m., when they will take on the French River Rapids at Noelville Arena in Noelville.

A LITTLE STREAK GOING

During Friday night’s game against the Soo Thunderbirds, Powassan Voodoos defenceman Alex Little scored one goal, which extended his point-scoring streak to six games.

Little, who has now extended his point-scoring streak to six games, also became the first Voodoo defenceman to have a six-game point scoring streak since Eric Mondoux (2019-2020).

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