Another busy weekend of action saw the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Soo Thunderbirds pick up a win and two losses.
On Sunday afternoon, the Thunderbirds surrendered three goals in the third period in a 6-2 loss on the road against the Elliot Lake Red Wings at Centennial Arena.
The Red Wings opened the scoring midway through the opening period when Matthew Shulist found himself alone in the slot and took a feed from Parker Banks before beating Thunderbirds goaltender Nolan Chartrand.
Shulist picked up his second goal of the day early in the second period as he jumped on a loose puck in the slot after a turnover at the side of the Sault goal and beat Chartrand glove side at 2:45.
The Red Wings took a 3-0 lead thanks to a power play goal midway through the second period. Alex Antoine took a pass from Jovani Moses and then tried to send the puck into the slot, but tt would hit a Thunderbirds player and deflect past Chartrand instead at 9:06
The Thunderbirds got on the board 80 seconds later as Brock Santa Maria scored on the power play to make it 3-1. The veteran forward had his initial shot from the left faceoff circle blocked before scoring on his second chance to cut into the Red Wings lead.
Youssef Chaouachi cut the Elliot Lake lead to one goal with 2:26 to go in the period when he took a pass in the slot from Russell Oldham and beat Red Wings starter Cameron Smith.
Elliot Lake restored the two-goal lead 6:14 into the third period when Kaden Laverdiere was stopped initially but scored on a rebound in tight to make it 4-2.
The Red Wings extended the lead midway through the period when Jace Simington-Lesanko beat Chartrand with a shot from the neutral zone. Moments after a faceoff win, the puck found it’s way to the Red Wings defenceman, who proceeded to dump the puck in. After it took a bounce off the end boards, Chartrand attempted to play it and the puck deflected in over the goalline to make it 5-2.
Dayton Clarke capped off the scoring for Elliot Lake with an empty net goal at 17:43 of the third.
Shulist finished the night with two goals and an assist while Banks assisted on a pair of goals.
Smith made 17 saves for the Red Wings.
Chartrand stopped 22 shots for the Thunderbirds, who fall to 13-4-1-2 following the loss.
Sunday’s game capped off a busy weekend for the Thunderbirds that saw the club play three games in three days.
On Friday night Eric Clark stopped all 30 shots he faced as the Blind River Beavers blanked the Thunderbirds 5-0 in the Sault at the John Rhodes Community Centre.
The Beavers scored four times in the opening period en route to the win.
Hayden Webster scored a pair of goals for Blind River while Caleb Minns assisted on three Beavers goals.
Noah Metivier stopped 13 shots for the Thunderbirds.
On Saturday night, the Thunderbirds fell behind 2-0 through one period before scoring six unanswered goals in a 6-2 win over the Espanola Express, also at the Rhodes.
Santa Maria and Andrew Gibson had two goals and an assist for the Thunderbirds while Kenny Belanger Jr. had a goal and an assist.
Chartrand made 17 saves.
Espanola goaltender Patrick Boivin stopped 48 shots, including 20 in the second period alone.
The Thunderbirds return to action on Nov. 19 at home against the Red Wings in a 7:30 p.m. start at the John Rhodes Community Centre.
The weekend also saw the Thunderbirds complete a trio of deals, one of which saw the team acquire defenceman Mason Chitaroni from the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Cobourg Cougars on Saturday.
Chitaroni, who played his minor hockey locally, is a 5th round draft pick of the Ontario Hockey League’s London Knights.
The 17-year-old defenceman played in 12 games with the Cougars this season, scoring one goal and assisting on four others.
Chitaroni spent last season in the NOJHL with the Blind River Beavers where he assisted on five goals in 15 games.
The team also acquired forward Alfred Rotiroti from the Maritime League’s Yarmouth Mariners on Saturday.
The 20-year-old forward had a goal and six points in 10 games with the Mariners this season.
On Friday, the Thunderbirds completed a deal with the Swan Valley Stampeders of the Manitoba Junior League that saw the team acquire Dharan Cap.
A 19-year-old forward, Cap had a goal in 11 games with the Stampeders.