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NEWS RELEASE
NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
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A couple of third period Jake McPherson goals, including the eventual game-winner, lifted the Soo Thunderbirds over the Espanola Paper Kings 6-3 Sunday in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League meeting at John Rhodes Community Centre.
The hometown Thunderbirds notched the initial tally with five minutes to play in the first when Callum McAuley finished off a give-and-go with James Legler in beating Paper Kings’ netminder Connor Hatfield.
With the assist, Legler extended a consecutive game point streak to seven.
Sault Ste. Marie added another one before the first intermission when Cooper Labelle put a play in front from behind the net that was promptly snapped in by Lucas Willoughby.
Heading to the second stanza, the T-Birds extended their lead at 13:23 when Harley Wardell benefitted from a feed along the end boards courtesy of McAuley and pumped in his eighth of the campaign.
Espanola eventually solved Soo starter Lincoln Mellenthin off a draw, four minutes into the third, when Jackson Drigo steered in a feed through the crease by Grady Murphy.
Getting that back, McPherson made it 4-1 a few shifts later as he knuckled a shot through Hatfield from the right circle.
Adding some insurance with 6:29 to go, Sebastian Dos Reid collected his initial NOJHL tally when he finished off another marker generated from in deep.
The T-Bird’s McPherson then provided a spinning long-range wrister from the point, to add to the Soo cushion.
Getting a pair late, via the power play, the Paper Kings’ Aiden Pethick bounced one in off the end boards, then Mellenthin, after a blast inside the blueline, while Jack Anderson banked a shot off a defender into the net to wrap-up the afternoon’s scoring.
The win improves the Thunderbirds record to 11-11-1-1 while Espanola lost for a fourth straight time, falling to 8-12-2-0.
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