Thunderbirds off to Dudley Hewitt Cup (15 photos)

The Soo Thunderbirds are Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League champions.

The Thunderbirds clinched the NOJHL title with a 5-3 win over the Cochrane Crunch on Sunday night at the Essar Centre, winning the best-of-7 league final in five games.

It marks the Thunderbirds first league title since 2012 and third Dudley Hewitt Cup appearance in four years.

“It was a test,” said Thunderbirds Coach Jordan Smith. “Despite the fact that we went 12-2 in the playoffs, this group was tested many times. The credit has to go to the players. They bought in. This is what they wanted all year and they worked for it.”

The teams split six goals in the opening period before Andrew Barbeau scored the game-winning goal 1:27 into the second period.

“To be able to go there and win two games in a row (in games three and four) and especially 2-0 in game four, that was the biggest game to date in the series. They’re a highly powerful team and they showed it.”

Matt Pinder and Owen Headrick had a goal and an assist for the Thunderbirds while Nicolas Tassone also scored. Brett Jeffries sealed the win with an empty net goal in the final minute of the contest.

“(The message after the first period) was there were some things that we needed to do better,” Smith said. “I don’t think we were skating the way we could in the first period. We were giving them too many opportunities to carry the puck through the neutral zone and we weren’t as aggressive as we normally are. We knew that if we stuck with the process that we should be successful.”

Headrick was named the NOJHL’s playoff MVP after posting 12 goals and 20 points in 14 playoff games.

Mario Culina got the start in goal for the Thunderbirds, stopping 24 shots.

“For Mario to come in at 17 and show the composure that he did, especially picking up that 2-0 win (in Cochrane) and the breakaway stop here today in the third period was obviously a difference-maker. It’s nice to see a young player come into his own.”

Max Glashauser, Alex Goulet and Kyle Sanford scored for the Crunch.

Brett Young stopped 32 shots for Cochrane.

“The last three games, we made (the Thunderbirds) earn everything they had,” said Cochrane Coach Ryan Leonard. “Tonight, it was a see-saw battle. The guys battled right until the end. We missed a breakaway and had a two-on-one in the last six minutes. We could have lied down like a fish and flopped but the guys kept working for us and working for our program. This is one of the first years in my nine years that I’m going to cherish for a long time.”

Thanks to the league title, the Thunderbirds now advance to the Dudley Hewitt Cup, which opens on Apr. 28 in Fort Frances, Ont.

The Thunderbirds last appeared in the tournament in 2012 in North Bay, Ont. where they finished third.

The four-team tournament will feature the Thunderbirds, the host-Fort Frances Lakers, who also won the SIJHL title, and the champions from the Superior International Junior Hockey League and the Ontario Junior Hockey League.

The Lakers winning the SIJHL title means their opponent from the league final, the Dryden IceDogs, will also participate in the Dudley Hewitt Cup.

The Thunderbirds and IceDogs will meet in the tournament opener on Apr. 28 in a 2 p.m. start. Fort Frances will face the OJHL champion in the other game on day one.

In the OJHL final, the Toronto Lakeshore Patriots currently lead the Kingston Voyageurs 3-2 in the best-of-7 series. Game six in that series is Monday night in Kingston.

(PHOTO: Soo Thunderbird players celebrate immediately after defeating the Cochrane Crunch 5-3 to claim the NOJHL title. Kenneth Armstrong/SooToday)