Thunderbirds offense explodes on Beavers

That explosion you may have heard coming from the east end of the city on Friday evening isn't anything to worry about, unless you're one of the Soo Thunderbirds Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League opponents.

The Thunderbirds saw their offense come to life on Friday as they scored a 9-4 victory over the visiting Blind River Beavers at the John Rhodes Community Centre.

The victory came on the heels of a disappointing 6-3 loss at the hands of the Northern Michigan Black Bears on Wednesday night in the Michigan Sault.

The game also marked the opening of the battle for the Carmen Provenzano Memorial Cup, which will be awarded to the winner of the regular season series between the Thunderbirds and the Beavers.

On Friday night, the Thunderbirds fell behind early after Shane Bailey scored on the power play at 2:07 of the opening period. The lead did not last long however as Ryan Maunu scored the first of what would be three goals on the night for the former high school star. Maunu's goal came at 4:33.

Anthony Libonati gave the Beavers the lead at the eight minute mark of the second period only to see Maunu score just 2:18 later to tie the game again. A Shane Barclay goal just 12 seconds after Maunu tied the game still wasn't good enough to deflate the Thunderbirds offensive outburst.

Tyler Gendron scored at 13:01 and Maunu gave the Thunderbirds their first lead of the night just eight seconds later. A Ty Cada goal at 13:48 on the man-advantage tied the game for Blind River.

Drew Jarrett then proceeded to helped take the wind out of the Beavers sails when he scored with just 19 seconds left in the second period, a goal that would eventually turn into the game winner.

Gendron scored his second goal of the night on the power play at 4:54 of the third period. Kyle Rodgers, Mark Thorburn and Gendron's hat trick marker wrapped up the Thunderbirds four goal outburst in the third.

Michael Maulucci picked up the victory in goal for the Thunderbirds stopping just 13 shots for the win. Following the game, Thunderbirds head coach Zoltan 'Toots' Kovacs commented on just home important Maulucci is to the organization.

"We can always count on Michael," Kovacs said. "I asked Chris May of the Northern Ontario Hockey Association about a month ago if it was possible to name Michael Maulucci as an assistant captain. Under Hockey Canada rules I couldn't but whether or not he has a letter on his sweater it doesn't matter. He's a leader on this hockey team. Players look up to him. He's going to do a good job for us. He'll work with (backup) Travis O'Brien and make sure Travis is ready to play."

Kovacs also noted that he plans to give O'Brien the start when the Thunderbirds host the Abitibi Eskimos on Saturday night at the John Rhodes Community Centre.

Kovacs went on to say that, despite giving up nine goals, he was impressed with the play of Beavers netminder, and Sault native, Don Bruni.

"I thought (Bruni) did a hell of a job for them," Kovacs said of the game. "Even though we got as many goals as we did, I thought he saved their bacon in the first two periods. I'm glad for the kid, he's a good kid.

"We've got come good firepower up front," Kovacs said. "What really pleased me tonight was our defensive zone coverage. We only gave up 17 shots compared to 40 in our last three games. Pat Carricato worked hard with the 'D' (Thursday) in practice and they made a pact to keep (the shots) under 20 and they did."

The coach also commented on the play of veterans Ryan Maunu and Mark Thorburn.

"I always knew that Ryan was going to score a bunch of goals for us (this year)," Kovacs said of his captain. "Ryan Maunu did a hell of a job for us as a rookie last year in this league and this year I expected big things from him.

"As far as Mark Thorburn goes, he's just a pure athlete. I made a deal with (St. Mary's senior football coach) Marty Smith to allow Mark to play both football and hockey this season. He's going to miss one hockey game and one football game. I can tell you right now, I can see the benefits of him playing football. He's a little more aggressive, he's as strong as an ox."

Kovacs added that he was also pleased with the play of rookies Zac McNally and Nick Minardi, who played sparingly on a line with Thorburn.

After Saturday night's 7:30 p.m. home game against Abitibi, the Thunderbirds will be off until Sept. 23 when they hit the road to take on the Manitoulin Islanders at the Howland Recreation Centre in Little Current.

(All photos courtesy of Jim Egan.)