Prior to Friday night, it had been over eight months since the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Soo Thunderbirds had played a game.
When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the remainder of the 2019-20 NOJHL season and eventually delayed the start of the 2020-21 season, 250 days would eventually pass before the Thunderbirds got back on the ice for a game.
While the play was much different than what they’re used to with some new rules in place, including no body checking, the Thunderbirds skated to a 6-1 exhibition win Friday night at the John Rhodes Community Centre over the Blind River Beavers.
“Nobody knew what to expect going in,” Thunderbirds coach Denny Lambert said of returning to game action. “It’s been eight months. They played pretty good considering they haven’t played in that long. There’s obviously a lot of things that we want to correct, but overall, we played well.”
A pair of goals 15 seconds apart late in the second period put the Thunderbirds ahead and helped lift the club to the victory.
After the teams skated to a scoreless opening period, Will Josephson got the locals on the board just over four minutes into the second period when he cut to the net from the left side of the goal and beat Beavers netminder Wyatt Courchaine.
Sam Davies tied the game for the Beavers with 5:16 to go in the period, beating Sault netminder Scott Young through some traffic from the left point.
The Thunderbirds wasted little time pulling ahead again as Kurtis Rogers gave the Thunderbirds a 2-1 lead as he beat Courchaine with a one-timer from the right side of the slot just over a minute after Davies had tied the game.
Just 15 seconds after the Rogers goal, Caleb Wood extended the Thunderbirds lead to 3-1.
“It was real important,” Lambert said of the Thunderbirds bouncing back quickly after Blind River tied the game. “The way the game was with either team having not played in such a long time, that just gave us the confidence back that we’re a good team and if we play within the system and the structure, we’re going to be able to win a lot of hockey games.”
The Thunderbirds capped off the scoring with three goals in a span of 1:10 in the final stages of the third period.
Josephson picked up his second of the night with 3:31 to go in regulation before Ty Zachary and Michael Chaffay added goals to cap off the 6-1 final.
Young finished the night with 21 saves for the Thunderbirds while Courchaine made 46 stops for Blind River.
A quick pace early in the hockey game was something Lambert wasn’t surprised with.
“Just the adrenaline from the kids, getting the chance to play again for the first time,” Lambert said. “We knew it was going to be fast. It’s kind of line a typical training camp. The first 10 minutes of training camp is usually high-end and fast paced. It was a little sloppy, but it was just fast. Once we slowed down a little bit, you could see that the conditioning isn’t exactly where it should be for obvious reasons. It was a pretty good pace.”
Thunderbirds forward Brock Santa Maria left the game in the opening period due to injury, but Lambert said following the game that it was just precautionary.
The two teams are scheduled to meet again on Saturday night in Blind River.
“We’re going to have to play the game smart,” Lambert said of Saturday’s contest. “In your first game, the adrenaline is pumping and you’re ready to go. You feel great and you want to get going. Then usually in your second game, especially after this long of a layoff, you’re going to have some heavy legs.”
Puck drop for Saturday’s game is set for 7 p.m.