Skip to content

Sutton sinks Thunderbirds

Picking up a point was no consolation for the Soo Thunderbirds on Saturday night. The Thunderbirds dropped a 4-3 decision in overtime to the Sudbury Nickel Barons in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action at the John Rhodes Community Centre.

Picking up a point was no consolation for the Soo Thunderbirds on Saturday night.

The Thunderbirds dropped a 4-3 decision in overtime to the Sudbury Nickel Barons in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action at the John Rhodes Community Centre.

The Nickel Barons scored a pair of goals to erase a 3-1 lead the Thunderbirds had built in the second period before Bradley Sutton scored at 2:$2 of overtime to give the Nickel Barons the victory.

After the two teams traded goals in the latter stages of the opening period with Eric Hillock scoring on the power play for the Thunderbirds and Jimmy Roy scoring 52 seconds later for the Nickel Barons, Joey Ogden and Matthew Mitchell gave the Thunderbirds the lead in the second period. Ogden scored just 24 seconds into the period while Mitchell scored just over four minutes later.

The Nickel Barons cut the lead to one goal thanks to a goal by Dylan Callaghan with 1:39 left in the second period and Christopher Rose would tie the game at 7:49 of the third period, setting the stage for Sutton’s overtime winner.

Rose finished the night with a goal and an assist while Jacob Bonin and Kyle Fransen set up two goals each for Sudbury. Nickel Barons goaltender Kevin Labelle stopped 33 shots in the win.

Thunderbirds goaltender Brian Kment stopped 26 shots.

With the win, the Nickel Barons pull to within five points of the Thunderbirds in the NOJHL’s West Division standings with 38 points (18-7-1-1). The Thunderbirds fall to 20-4-0-3 with the loss.

The Thunderbirds return to action on Tuesday night when they host the Blind River Beavers in a 7:30 p.m. start at the John Rhodes Community Centre.

In other NOJHL action on Saturday night, Spencer MacLean had a goal and an assist to lead the Elliot Lake Wildcats to a 4-1 win over Blind River.

In Kirkland Lake, Joel Fortin’s goal at 8:19 of the third period was the game-winner as the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners beat the Cochrane Crunch 3-2. Cochrane goaltender Brett Young stopped 32 shots in the loss.

In Iroquois Falls, Brady Clouthier scored six times and set up three other goals as the Abitibi Eskimos beat the Powassan Voodoos 13-6. Ryan Tront added a goal and four assists in the win while Jake Holland set up four goals in the win. Steve Harland had a goal and three assists for Powassan in the loss.


What's next?


If you would like to apply to become a Verified reader Verified Commenter, please fill out this form.




Brad Coccimiglio

About the Author: Brad Coccimiglio

A graduate of Loyalist College’s Sports Journalism program, Brad Coccimiglio’s work has appeared in The Hockey News as well as online at FoxSports.com in addition to regular freelance work with SooToday before joining the team full time.
Read more