Third period rally lifts Paper Kings over Thunderbirds

The Espanola Paper Kings overcame a two-goal deficit in the third period and rallied to beat the Soo Thunderbirds on Saturday.

The Paper Kings scored five times in the third period in a 7-4 win over the Thunderbirds.

Following is a full release from the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League with details from the Paper Kings victory:

Riding the strength of a five-goal third period barrage, the Espanola Paper Kings stormed back to knock off the Soo Thunderbirds 7-4 Saturday in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest at the Regional Recreation Complex.

The Thunderbirds needed just 70 seconds to open the scoring when Jonathan Sonedecker snagged a loose puck in the neutral zone, then wheeled into the Paper Kings zone where he whipped a shot past Espanola starter James Meredith.

Adding to their edge at 12:27, Sault Ste. Marie’s Keegan Fox pumped a wrister from the point, through traffic, and into the net.

Another in the session saw the Soo strike on the power play as Harley Wardell jammed in a backhand in close to finish off some nice puck movement from the visitors.

In the middle frame, Espanola tallied twice in quick order, midway through the match-up, to get right back in it.

Grant Booth on the power play at 10:06 saw him finish off a Cameron Menard pass in the slot to get the home side on the board in beating the Soo’s Lincoln Mellenthin.

Then right off the draw, Grady Murphy scored 10 seconds later as he banged in a rebound from in close.

Countering on the next shift though, Wardell redirected in a Bryan Fenlon attempt to put the Thunderbirds ahead 4-2 after two.

That resulted in Espanola making a goaltending change, with Jack Helkie entering in relief.

Flying out of the gate to begin the third, the Paper Kings struck twice in the first half minute to knot the affair.

Menard made it 4-3 after snagging a loose puck between the circles and ripping it in, while Jack Anderson pressured a turnover and lifted in a backhand mere moments later.

Not done there, Menard wired in a wrist shot, right off a draw, moments into a power play at 4:32.

Espanola kept coming and added another marker from Menard as he finished off a two-on-one with Carter Makasoff for his third of the period.

Then in the late-going, the Paper Kings capped off their comeback in the final minute, when Jason Galante snagged the puck off a point-blank save by Helkie, then spun and sent a long-range backhand the length of the ice into an empty net.

With the win, Espanola moves to 8-8-2-0 on the season while in defeat the Thunderbirds drop to 10-8-1-0.