T-Birds return home after road split

The Soo Thunderbirds return home to the confines of the John Rhodes Community Centre on Sunday night after a split during a pair of road games.

Following a 4-3 victory over the Rayside Balfour Sabrecats on Thursday and a 5-1 loss to the Blind River Beavers on Saturday night, the Thunderbirds host the Northern Michigan Black Bears on Sunday at 6 p.m.

The Thunderbirds (12-9-2-1) head into Sunday's game with a one point advantage over the Black Bears (11-6-3-1) in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League's western division although Northern Michigan holds three games in hand.

The Mantoulin Wild (11-9-1-2) sit two points behind with a game in hand while Blind River (11-8-1-1) is three points back with three games in hand.

On Saturday, the Beavers used three power play goals in the win and never trailed after grabbing a 2-0 lead in the first period.

Thomas Laplante paced the Blind River attack with a pair of goals while Jake Carlson, Jeff Wallis and Jacob Erway added one each. Art Clark, Matt Buha and Dustin McLeod recorded two assists each while Kevin King was credited with the win in goal.

Kyle Jones scored the lone Thunderbirds goal on a setup from Jacob Lalonde and Tyler McKinley, a pair of players sent down this past week by the Soo Greyhounds.

On Thursday, the Thunderbirds received a pair of goals from McKinley and one each from Pat Keating and Matt Caria while Ryan Maunu added two assists. Michael Maulucci recorded the win in goal.

The game was forced to start more than an hour late as the Thunderbirds were stuck on Highway 17 East near Blind River as an accident closed the highway.