The Soo Thunderbirds opened the playoffs with the Blind River Beavers on Friday night with an important win.
The Beavers have played the Thunderbirds tough at times this season and have managed to pull away with two wins over the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League West Division champions during the regular season.
But the Thunderbirds used a three-goal flurry late in the second period to secure a 6-1 victory and take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven West Division semi-final series.
The game looked to be a battle from start to finish, especially in the opening period when the Beavers were able to keep the game close.
In the opening period, Justin Towell got the Thunderbirds on the board early scoring before fans had a chance to settle in just 3:09 into the game.
The Beavers kept the game close and were helped out by starting goaltender Kevin King, who made some solid saves including one on young Matt Dias just past the midway point of the period.
The Beavers, who had a couple of chances to tie the game, finally got the tying goal late in the period when Drew Jarrett cut out in front of the Soo goal from behind the net. With Thunderbirds goaltender Casey Mapes down, he roofed shot over Mapes.
In the second period, the Thunderbirds took over with three goals in just under five minutes late in the period.
D.J. Jelitto scored on a breakaway just minutes into the period.
At 15:23, the Thunderbirds scored the first of three late goals in the period. Tom Vernelli scored the goal after receiving a gift from King.
With a Thunderbirds penalty just expiring, Vernelli hopped onto the ice for the penalized player who was on his way to the bench. With Vernelli forcing King, who came out into the slot to play the puck which had been dumped in, King inadvertently put the puck on the stick of Vernelli, who made the score 3-1 for the Thunderbirds.
Moments later, Aaron Anderson chased King from the game by scoring on a perfectly placed shot over King's glove. Brock Lees came in for the Beavers but he was victimized by Mike MacMillan with just 2.5 second left in the period to make the score 5-1 heading into the third.
In the third, the Thunderbirds got a late goal from Jelitto, who was named the game's second star with two goals on the night, to cap off the 6-1 win.
Thunderbirds captain Ryan MacKay had a strong game picking up two assists and playing a well-rounded game in being named first star.
Thunderbirds coach Jim Capy credited Blind River following the game saying that they played well although he also felt that his club didn't meet their own expectations.
"I think we gotta give Blind River credit," Capy said. "I thought they played a good game. Our concern is we've got to play a little bit harder tomorrow night in terms of our effort and game plan. As quickly as we got here we could be gone."
Capy added that the Beavers received a strong effort from top line centre Thomas Laplante, who received a lot of ice time, particularly on the power play.
"We don't want to give Thomas Laplante more ice time than he needs," Capy said. "He's probably one of the top two or three guys in the league. We took some bad penalties too, especially in the third period."
Capy went on to say that the line of Nick Tombari, Bryan Pearse and Towell was particularly strong. The line, which is seen as the team's fourth line or their energy line, allows them to run four lines consistently.
"Tombari and Pearse gave us some high energy shifts," Capy said of the paring. "(Those three) are probably our fourth line, but we want to be able to play four lines if we can."
The series now shifts to Blind River for game two on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. before shifting back to Sault Ste. Marie for game three on Tuesday night at Memorial Gardens at 7:30 p.m.
In other playoff action around the NOJHL, the North Bay Skyhawks hold a 2-0 series lead over the Rayside Balfour Sabrecats after North Bay scored a 6-2 win in the NOJHL's only other contest on Friday.
Northern Michigan leads the Manitoulin Wild 2-0 after a 3-2 win on Thursday and a 10-2 win on Wednesday in St. Ignace while the Sudbury Northern Wolves, who opened with a 3-1 win on Wednesday, will take a 1-0 lead over the Abitibi Eskimos into game two on Saturday.
Photos courtesy of Jim Egan