Hockey Notebook: Thunderbirds midgets on the road, Attack continue to roll

The first Great North Midget League road trip for the Soo Thunderbirds major midget team was a tough one.

The Thunderbirds were faced with a three-game-in-three night stretch that saw stops in New Liskeard, Kapuskasing, and Timmins for the locals. The team eventually returned with a 1-2 record from the trip

On Friday night, the Thunderbirds opened the trip with a 7-4 win over the New Liskeard Cubs. Ryan Mulligan and Brendan Gillis had a pair of goals in the win while Zach Senecal, Matt Murray and Jakob Porco also scored in the win.

Cade Herd, Cayse Ton, Jacob Leveille and Gabriel Rheault scored for New Liskeard in the loss.

On Saturday, the Thunderbirds dropped a 6-4 decision to the Kapuskasing Flyers. Senecal, Murray, Noah Serre and Matt MacKay scored in the loss.

Trevor Cheff scored a pair of goals for Kapuskasing in the win. Tyler Minoletti, Zachary Larose, Raphael Lecours and Derek Goulet also scored for the Flyers.

The Thunderbirds wrapped up the trip with a 3-2 loss in Timmins to the Majors on Sunday. Greg Willett had the game-winner for the Majors while Tyler Chamberlain and Dillan Bruce also scored.

Brad Thrower and Lucas Miller scored for the Thunderbirds.

Following the weekend action, the Thunderbirds GNML record sits at 8-4-0-1.

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The Canadian International Hockey League’s Batchewana Attack remains unbeaten in league play after a 3-2 victory over the Espanola Rivermen on Friday night.

A goal by Chris Skinner just under three minutes into the third period held up as the game-winner for the Attack, who improved to 5-0 with the victory.

After falling behind 2-0, Jesse Delavalle scored a pair of goals in the second period to tie the game at two apiece.

Attack goaltender Stefan Demetz stopped 34 shots in the win.

Espanola goaltender Trevor Kalinowski stopped 47 shots in the loss while Cole Braney and Andrei Yanovich scored for Espanola.

The Attack also played a pair of exhibition games over the weekend, splitting a weekend set with the Kalkaska Rhinos on the road. The Rhinos beat the Attack 5-3 on Saturday night before the Attack returned the favour on Sunday afternoon, blanking the Rhinos 5-0.

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The North American Hockey League’s Soo Eagles skated to a weekend sweep of the Michigan Warriors on the road.

On Friday night, the Eagles opened the weekend with a 4-3 win thanks to a third period goal by Dan Weaver. The goal capped off the Eagles erasing a 3-1 deficit to win. Sandis Zolmanis had a goal and an assist in the win for the Eagles while Keegan Miller and Chase Matson also scored. Jack Berry got the start for the Eagles but was pulled after giving up three goals on eight shots. Sean Keating came in and stopped all 26 shots he faced.

Mitch Wedding, Tyler Groat and AJ Martinek scored for Michigan in Friday’s loss.

On Saturday night, The Eagles wrapped the weekend up with a 4-1 victory.

Matson had a goal and two assists in Saturday’s win while Brad Pung chipped in with a goal and an assist. Zolmanis and John O’Conner also scored. Matt Menta set up a pair of goals for the Eagles on Saturday.

Alex Berardinelli had the lone goal for the Warriors while goaltender Ryan Wischow stopped 39 shots.

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A tough start to the 2014-15 season got tougher over the weekend for the Lake Superior State Lakers hockey team.

The Lakers fell to 0-8 on the season after a weekend sweep at the hands of the Northern Michigan Wildcats in Western Collegiate Hockey Association action at Taffy Abel Arena.

On Friday night, Darren Nowick scored a pair of goals to lead the Wildcats to a 4-2 win. John Siermer had a goal and an assist for Northern Michigan and Dominik Shine also scored. Defenceman Mitch Jones set up two goals for Northern.

Austin McKay and Scott Patterson scored for the Lakers in Friday’s loss.

Northern completed the sweep with a 3-0 win on Saturday night thanks to a 23-save performance from Mathias Dahlstrom. Siemer, Joseph Manno and Shane Sooth scored for the Wildcats in the win.

Lakers goaltender Gordon Defiel stopped 33 shots in Saturday’s loss.