The first extended road trip of the young Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League season hasn’t been too kind to the Soo Thunderbirds.
After dropping a 4-2 decision in Hearst on Friday night, the Thunderbirds fell to the Cochrane Crunch 2-1 on Saturday in Cochrane.
It continues a tough stretch that has seen the Thunderbirds drop six of their last seven games, one in a shootout, after opening the season with a pair of wins.
Crunch goaltender Cody Levesque was busy on Saturday, stopping 38 Thunderbirds shots, including 14 in the final period.
Kobe Barrette’s goal with 5:08 to go in the second period was the game-winning goal. Stephen Minichiello had the other Cochrane goal.
Jakob Kovacs had the lone goal for the Thunderbirds.
Goaltender Dakota Meyer stopped 28 shots.
The Thunderbirds fall to 3-5-0-1 with the loss and will wrap up the weekend with a game in Timmins against the Rock on Sunday afternoon.
Cochrane improves to 4-4-0-1 with the win.