The Soo Thunderbirds find themselves on the brink of elimination.
Tyler Eady scored with 2:55 remaining in regulation time to lift the North Bay Skyhawks past the Soo Thunderbirds 3-2 on Thursday night in game three of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League (NOJHL) championship series in North Bay.
With the victory, the Skyhawks take a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
The series shift back to the Sault on Saturday for game four beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the John Rhodes Community Centre.
Regardless of the outcome, both teams have qualified for the Dudley-Hewitt Cup, symbolic of the Central Canadian Junior A Championship, April 27-May 1 in North Bay.
On Thursday, D.J. Jelitto opened the scoring for the Thunderbirds 3:58 into the contest before David Cappadocia evened the score for the Skyhawks later in the frame.
After 25 minutes of scoreless play, Cappadocia scored with two minutes remaining in the second period to give North Bay a 2-1 lead.
Alex Butkus' goal 10:21 into the third period brought the Thunderbirds back into a 2-2 tie before Eady scored the late game winner.
Ryan MacKay recorded a pair of assists for the locals while Butkus also added an assist on Jelitto's marker.
Jarrett Michaels made the start in goal for the Thunderbirds and was solid in stopping 37 of 40 North Bay shots.
The Soo fired 20 shots at Martin Perreault, who recorded his third win of the series.