Thunderbirds rebound for win

One night after what coach Warren LaVoy called a “terrible” game in an overtime loss to the Blind River Beavers, the Soo Thunderbirds rebounded on Saturday night.

The Thunderbirds bounced back with a 6-3 win over the Elliot Lake Bobcats at the Essar Centre in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action on Saturday night. The Thunderbirds entered the game coming off a disappointing effort on Friday night against the Beavers.

“The players weren’t happy about last night and there wasn’t much that had to be said today,” said LaVoy.

The Thunderbirds jumped out to a 3-1 lead through one period in which the Thunderbirds outshot Elliot Lake 19-4, but the Bobcats battled back to tie the game at three in the second period and took the play to the Thunderbirds before surrendering three goals in the third.

“In the second period, they beat us, they’re a team that feeds off momentum and they don’t stop,” said LaVoy. “They come two-guys hard on the forecheck and you have to be ready for it.”

Bobcats coach Ryan Leonard said following the game that a lack of leadership has led to the team struggling to put a full 60-minute effort together on some nights.

“It’s a lack of leadership on our part,” said Leonard. “We’re trying to find leaders in our room and we don’t have any. We could see it tonight, it was another 40-minute hockey game out of us. (Friday) night against North Bay is was the same thing. It’s a lack of confidence. If we give up a lead we just put our heads down and that’s part of not having a lot of veteran maturity on the team.”

Greg Sartoretto led the offensive attack for the Thunderbirds in the win with a pair of goals and an assist in the win while Adam Ritchie had a goal and two assists. Anthony Butorac and Darcy Casola added a goal and an assist each for the Thunderbirds. Defenceman Tyler Jones had the other goal for the Thunderbirds while goaltender Steven Dombrosky stopped 22 shots in the win.

Steve Gaul and Brad Hollman had a goal and an assist each for Elliot Lake while Nicholas Tassone also scored. Goaltender Thomas Graham stopped 32 shots in the loss.

The Thunderbirds return to action on Sunday afternoon when they host the North Bay Trappers at 3 p.m. at the Essar Centre.

Photo courtesy James Egan Photography

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