Thunderbirds grab early lead, hold on to beat Beavers

A goal late in the second period was the eventual game-winner as the Soo Thunderbirds beat the Blind River Beavers on Saturday night at the John Rhodes Community Centre.

Griffen Albert’s first Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League goal held up as the game-winner as the Thunderbirds beat the Beavers 4-2.

Albert redirected a pass in the slot from defenceman Kyle Cregan past Beavers goaltender Bronx Bodnar with 3:04 to go in the second period and the Thunderbirds held off a push by the Beavers in the final period.

Power play goals by Aaron Dukeshire and Levi Lux 49 seconds apart early in the third period made it a 3-2 game before Callum McAuley sealed the Thunderbirds win with an empty net goal in the final minute of the contest.

Dukeshire got the Beavers on the board 1:01 into the third period as he beat Thunderbirds goaltender Lincoln Mellenthin by finishing off a give-and-go with Owen King.

Lux then cut into the lead further at 1:50 with the Beavers on a two-man advantage, jamming the puck past the Thunderbirds netminder to make it a one-goal game.

The Thunderbirds opened the scoring late in the opening period as Aiden Atkinson scored on a rebound in close at 15:36 of the first period after Bodnar stopped a point shot by Jake McPherson initially.

The Thunderbirds took a 2-0 lead 2:24 into the second period when Jonathan Sonedecker scored on a pass from Rex Rhodes.

Sonedecker finished the night with a goal and an assist while Cregan assisted on a pair of goals.

Mellenthin stopped 25 of 27 shots for the Thunderbirds in the victory.

Dukeshire paced the Beavers offensively with a goal and an assist while Bodnar stopped 23 shots.

The Thunderbirds improve to 2-0-1 on the season with the win while Blind River is 2-1-0 through three games.

The Thunderbirds return to action on Sept. 27 on the road against the Timmins Rock. Blind River is right back in action on Sunday afternoon at home against the Espanola Paper Kings.