Tassone, Sicoly pace Thunderbirds to win

Friday was a big night for a pair of Soo Thunderbirds forwards.

Nic Sicoly and Nicolas Tassone combined for seven points as the Soo Thunderbirds beat the Mattawa Blackhawks 7-1 in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action at the John Rhodes Community Centre.

Tassone scored three times, giving him 20 goals on the season, while Sicoly scored once and set up three more goals for the Thunderbirds, who improve to 22-4-0-3 with the win.

Nathan Hebert chipped in with a goal and two assists offensively for the Thunderbirds while Matt Pinder and Joey Miller also scored for the locals.

Mario Culina made 20 saves for the Thunderbirds.

Andy Williams had the lone goal for Mattawa in the loss. Goaltender Joe Sheppard made 40 saves.

With the loss, Mattawa falls to 4-23-0-1.

The Thunderbirds wrap up their pre-Christmas schedule on Sunday evening when they host the Elliot Lake Wildcats in a 7:30 p.m. start at the John Rhodes Community Centre.

In other NOJHL action on Friday night, Spencer MacLean had three goals and an assist while Cole Hepler had two goals and an assist as Elliot Lake beat the Sudbury Nickel Barons 6-1.

Cody Gratton had two goals and three assists while Josh Racek scored three times and set up another goal to lead the Cochrane Crunch to a 9-2 win over the Abitibi Eskimos.

In Friday’s other game, Steven Babin had two goals and three assists to lead a short-staffed Kirkland Lake team to a 9-2 win over the Powassan Voodoos. Connor Thie chipped in with two goals and an assist for the Gold Miners in the win.

(File Photo: Soo Thunderbirds foward Nicolas Tassone. Kenneth Armstrong/SooToday)