Three straight wins for Thunderbirds following weekend victories

An offensive explosion lifted the Soo Thunderbirds to a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League victory on Sunday.

The Thunderbirds scored five times in the second period en route to a 7-0 victory over the Espanola Paper Kings Sunday afternoon at the Espanola Regional Recreation Complex.

Kelsey Ouellet had a pair of goals for the Thunderbirds in the victory while Callum McAuley assisted on three goals.

Grayson Ebrahim, Jacob Smith, and Kaden Dundas added a goal and an assist each for the Thunderbirds.

Samuel Lake and Jonathan Sonedecker also scored.

Goaltender Kolton Bourret stopped 33 shots to pick up the shutout.

Andrew Gaulton stopped 34 shots for the Express in the loss. Luka Straser played the final 3:40 of the second period after the Thunderbirds made it a 6-0 game and stopped both shots he faced before Gaulton re-entered the game in the third period.

Sunday’s victory was the second win of the weekend for the Thunderbirds after picking up a 6-3 win at home over the Blind River Beavers at the John Rhodes Community Centre.

Daniel Beaupre had a pair of goals for the Thunderbirds in the win over Blind River.

Thomas Degagne assisted on two goals for the Sault while McAuley, Smith, and Ebrahim also scored.

Bourret made 26 saves for the Thunderbirds.

Daniel Vasic scored twice for Blind River while Brendan Cooke had the other goal for the Beavers.

Noah Tegelaar stopped 18 of 22 shots in just under two periods of work before making way for Gavin Disano, who stopped three of the four shots he faced the rest of the way.

Winners of three in a row, the Thunderbirds sit third in the NOJHL’s West Division with a record of 26-12-2-1 on the season. With 55 points, the team is three points ahead of Espanola in the standings.