Thunderbirds streak snapped in NOJHL final opener (12 photos)

The streak has come to an end.

Having not lost since a 4-0 setback against the Powassan Voodoos on Feb. 5, the Soo Thunderbirds 26-game winning streak ended on Sunday night after the team dropped a 6-4 decision to the Hearst Lumberjacks in the opening game of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League final at the GFL Memorial Gardens.

A shorthanded goal early in the second period with the Lumberjacks down two men was a difference-maker in the game.

“You give up a five-on-three goal against, you’re going to lose a hockey game,” Thunderbirds coach Cole Jarrett said. “In my experience, if you don’t score on the five-on-three and you give up a (shorthanded) goal against, chances are you’re not going to win a hockey game.”

Hearst coach Marc-Alain Begin called the Lumberjacks special teams a factor in the game.

“When you score three-on-five, it can take the momentum from the other team,” Begin said. “We just built on that. They scored right after, but we came back and scored two power play goals. Special teams will be key. We need to focus on out penalty kill a little bit. They scored two power play goals, so we need to focus on that, but Ryan Glazer’s five-on-three goal was huge.”

Jarrett credited the Lumberjacks in the game.

“They played a really good road game,” Jarrett said. “They did a good job of getting pucks in behind our defencemen, especially in the first two periods, capitalizing on our mistakes.”

“For the most part, anytime they generated some offence, it was off our turnovers, which is a credit to them being in the right spot and being hard on pucks,” Jarrett added.

While the third period saw some improvements for the home side, Jarrett called the early stretches of the game “unacceptable.”

“We got back to it in the third, playing a simpler, more direct game, but it’s just unacceptable in the first game of the final to come out like that, especially in the second period,” Jarrett said. “

Jarrett also said that a week-long break after dispatching the Soo (Mich.) Eagles in the West Division final could have been a factor in the game early on as well.

“In the third period, once we committed to playing the right way and the way we know that we can, we carried the play for a majority of the time,” Jarrett said. “This should give us some confidence and encouragement going into tomorrow night that if we play the right way, we’ll be just fine.”

For the Lumberjacks, coming off a game seven win in the East Division final against the Timmins Rock, a short turnaround turned out to be helpful for the club.

“We came here with a lot of momentum on our side,” Begin said. “Maybe a little bit of fatigue, but at the same time, the adrenaline takes over. Getting playoff-tested is not a bad thing unless you have a lot of injuries, but we’re okay in that department.”

The Thunderbirds opened the scoring when Michael Chaffay beat Hearst goaltender Liam Oxner from the left side on a sharp angle short side at 7:48 of the opening period.

Hearst got on the board early in the second period when Glazer skated down the left wing and beat Thunderbirds starter Noah Zeppa glove side from the left circle glove side 2:27 into the frame. The goal came with the Lumberjacks down two men.

The Thunderbirds regained the lead 1:13 later when Cooper Foster redirected a pass in close from Kelsey Ouellet below the goalline to make it 2-1 Thunderbirds.

With the Lumberjacks on the power play, Riley Klugerman tied the game at two on a redirection in close at 5:05.

The Lumberjacks took the lead at 10:53 when Dylan Ford beat Zeppa on a shot through traffic from the top of the right circle on the power play.

Glazer extended the Lumberjacks lead just under four minutes later when he beat Zeppa with a shot from the left circle high glove side to make it 4-2 Hearst.

Maxandre Pelletier made it 5-2 nine seconds later. After his initial shot from the slot was blocked in traffic, he grabbed the rebound and beat Zeppa, ending the night for the Sault netminder.

With the Thunderbirds on the power play late in the period, Colby Arbour cut the Hearst lead to 5-3 when he potted a goal on the power play, redirecting a back-door pass from Dharan Cap.

Russell Oldham pulled the Thunderbirds to within one midway through the third period, beating Oxner with a shot from the slot in traffic at 9:17.

With 36 seconds to go, Glazer capped off the scoring with an empty net goal for his third goal of the night.

Glazer’s three-goal performance paced the Lumberjacks offensively and earned praise from his coach.

“Ryan Glazer’s a playoff guy,” Begin said. “He does everything for us. He kills penalties, he plays on the power play, five-on-five and scores some big goals. He’s got two overtime winners in the playoffs and a hattrick in game one. All he brings is positives to out lineup. He plays with grit. He plays with a lot of skill also. He brings a lot to our team.

Zachary Demers and Brayden Palfi assisted on a pair of goals each for the Lumberjacks while Oxner made 31 saves.

Zeppa stopped 15 of 20 shots for the Thunderbirds before being pulled. Noah Metivier stopped all nine shots he faced the rest of the way.

Foster finished the night with a goal and an assist for the Thunderbirds..

Game two in the series is Monday night, also at the GFL Memorial Gardens before the series shifts to Hearst for games three and four.

Jarrett called the short turnaround heading into game two a good thing.

“In playoff hockey, this doesn’t go toward the standings, you don’t lose ground to anybody in terms of position,” Jarrett said. “It’s a loss, we move on and get ready for the next shift and next game.”

Game three is set for Thursday night in Hearst with game four scheduled for the following night.