Controversial game-winner puts Thunderbirds in deep hole heading on road (7 photos)

It had a little bit of drama with some controversy mixed in, but in the end, the Hearst Lumberjacks are heading home with a two-game lead in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League final and the Soo Thunderbirds are facing some adversity heading on the road.

A goal late in the third period by Lumberjacks forward Riley Klugerman gave the visitors a 3-2 win over the Thunderbirds at the GFL Memorial Gardens to take a 2-0 series lead before heading home for game three later in the week.

Klugerman gave the Lumberjacks the lead with 2:25 to go in regulation time when he put the puck on net from along the goalline to the right of the goal and it deflected in off Thunderbirds goaltender Noah Metivier. The goal appeared to cross the line after the net behind Metivier was dislodged, but the goal was counted to give Hearst the lead, and the victory.

Thunderbirds coach Cole Jarrett said following the game that, for the bench, he was sure that the puck crossed the line after the net came loose but was told by referee Troy Miller, who was situated below the goalline behind the net, that the net came loose after the puck went in.

“We’re both watching it live, he’s obviously got a better view of it than I do, so I took him at his word when he explained it to me, which is fine. That’s what he saw,” Jarrett said. “Watching the video after, it appears to me that what I saw live was what happened.”

Jarrett went on to say, “the bottom line is, we can’t put ourselves in that position.”

“There was a horrible change right before (the goal), two bad turnovers coming out of our zone,” Jarrett added. “It’s going to end up in the back of your net. 100 per cent.”

Jarrett called the Lumberjacks an opportunistic group.

“When you take stupid penalties, when you have bad changes, you’re going to lose hockey games,” Jarrett also said. “We got away with it for so long by outscoring opponents, when you run into a hot goalie, that doesn’t happen. The guys are saying all of the right things and they know what they have to do, now it’s just keeping that focus for 60 minutes.”

Hearst coach Marc-Alan Begin said the first half of the game saw the Thunderbirds carry the play, but the resiliency of his group stood out.

“The Sault really took it to us, especially in the first 30, 35 minutes,” Begin said. “You could see that we’ve played a lot of hockey in the last week. At the same time, the resiliency that our team has is second to none. Our guys are battling through it. They just want to win.”

Much like game one, the Thunderbirds opened the scoring in the first period as Cooper Foster took a cross-ice pass in the left circle from Brock Santa Maria and beat Hearst starter Matteo Gennaro on the power play with 1:19 left in the period.

Hearst got on the board just over five minutes into the second period when he skated into the Thunderbirds zone on a 2-on-0 and beat Thunderbirds goaltender Noah Metivier 5-hole to tie the game at one.

The Lumberjacks took the lead with 20 seconds to go in the period when Riley Klugerman skated down the right wing and beat Metivier high stick side to make it 2-1 Hearst.

With the Thunderbirds on the power play, Kelsey Ouellet tied the game at two when he skated into the Hearst zone, stepped past two defenders in the slot and beat Gennaro high glove side at 6:25 of the third, setting the stage for Klugerman’s game winner.

Begin called Klugerman a game-changer for the Lumberjacks.

“He’s been doing it for us all year,” Begin said. “Klugerman is probably one of the best skilled players we have, not only on our team, but in the league. When he brings that effort like he brought tonight, he’s a game-changer.”

Santa Maria and Andrew Gibson assisted on both goals for the Thunderbirds.

Metivier made 31 saves.

Gennaro made 29 saves for the Lumberjacks in the victory.

“We’ve got a 1a and 1b with him and Liam Oxner,” Begin said. “I can’t say enough about our dup in net. They give us a chance every night. I knew (Gennaro) was anxious to get back in there, the guys were tired and he was fresh. He hasn’t played since Wednesday, so I knew he would give us a good chance to win. Boy, did he ever come through big for us, especially in the second period. He made a lot of nice saves to keep us in the game.”

The series now shifts to Hearst for games three and four.

Game three is set for Thursday night with game four scheduled for Friday.

Asked about the challenge of heading to Hearst down two games, Jarrett said, “there’s nothing left to do but pull their boots up and go to work.”

“They’re going to find out real quick what it feels like, and they’re finding out right now, to have their backs against the wall,” Jarrett added. “We haven’t been put in that position yet this year. Tonight, we were starting to get push back after that game one loss. It was a good response in terms of how we played for the most part. I’m looking for the same thing up there. If we’re not a more desperate group, then we won’t deserve to win.”

For Hearst, confidence is as high as can be following a game seven win against Timmins to get into the final before taking both games in Sault Ste. Marie.

“We’ve believed in this team from the start of the season,” Begin said. “We have big ambitions. Every night we play, we expect to win.”