Thunderbirds sweep weekend series

The Soo Thunderbirds capped a home-and-home weekend series with the Soo (Mich.) Eagles on Saturday night.

Just 24 hours after a 3-1 win over the Eagles at Pullar Stadium, the Thunderbirds blanked the Eagles 4-0 to end the weekend set at the Essar Centre.

Drake Pilon scored a pair of goals to pace the Thunderbirds offensively. Caleb Boman added a goal and an assist while Zach Senecal also scored for the locals.

“We controlled most of the game,” said Thunderbirds Coach Jordan Smith. “When we’re putting pressure on the defence and creating turnovers, it turns into offensive chances and our guys did a really good job with that tonight right through the lineup.”

Darian Pilon assisted on two goals for the Thunderbirds while goaltender Brendon Gordon stopped 19 shots for the shutout.

“It’s something we take pride in is not allowing a lot of shots,” said Smith. “That can be attributed to our puck-possession style. I was just really happy with all of our guys tonight. It was a solid effort.”

Eagles goaltender Jack Hickey stopped 36 shots.

“Our goaltending was good,” Eagles Coach Bruno Bragagnolo said. “A couple of our defencemen are playing really well. We just need to regroup here and get some guys healthy and back in the lineup.”

The Thunderbirds return to action on Oct. 9 on the road against the Elliot Lake Wildcats.

Next home action for the Thunderbirds will be Oct. 11 in a 3 p.m. start against the Cochrane Crunch at the Essar Centre.

The NOJHL had two other games on the schedule on Saturday night.

In Cochrane, Joey Mavin had two goals and an assist to lead the Cochrane Crunch to a 6-4 win over the Rayside Balfour Canadians. Seamus Maguire also had a three-point night for the Crunch with a goal and two assists. Ryan Mooney, Danny Lepage and Cayse Ton had a goal and an assist each for Rayside Balfour.

In Iroquois Falls, Josh Horner made 41 saves as the Iroquois Falls Eskis beat the Blind River Beavers 5-1. Brett Ouderkirk, David Osborne and Shadow Rueben had a goal and an assist each for Iroquois Falls. Bryce Campbell had the lone Blind River goal.

(File photo)