T-Birds struggle in loss to Abitibi (Updated)

After a four-game road swing, the return to the John Rhodes Community Centre for the Soo Thunderbirds was anything but friendly.

The Abitibi Eskimos built a 2-1 second period lead and added three more in the third period to skate to a 5-1 win over the Thunderbirds on Sunday night in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action.

The Soo's loss comes on the heels of a 7-6 win on Friday night in Little Current over the last place Manitoulin Islanders.

"I take full responsibility for tonight and Friday," said Thunderbirds head coach Toots Kovacs. "I think I've been a little slack, a little easy on them and having a bit too much fun."

"Before practise on Tuesday, we are going to have a meeting and it might take five minutes or it might take two hours. We are going to clear the air and the expectations of all the players and the expectations of our team are going to be set."

The Thunderbirds did get off to a decent start but Eskimos goaltender Matt Robin, who would later be named the game's first star, turned aside 16 shots to keep the game scoreless after one period.

"That is playoff type hockey and we have to fight through that," said Kovacs. "Goalies get hot but you can't bang sticks, you can't bang the boards and you can't say the 'f' word. You gotta keep pushing and don't stop. You can't let that get to you."

Abitibi opened the scoring at 6:14 of the second period as Shawn Winsor scored on the power play. Aaron Assinewei answered just minutes later for the Thunderbirds to tie the score but the Eskimos took over and scored four unanswered goals to close the game.

Winsor added another goal for Abitibi while David Proulx, Matt Brunet and Corey Santamaria also scored. Cody Fox added a pair of assists.

The Thunderbirds played the game without defensemen Ben Davey, who sat out a one-game suspension, Tyler Lannigan, who remains about two weeks away with a broken jaw, and Matt Conway, who re-injured his collarbone and has his return in doubt.

To add to the defensive woes, Jacob Porco left the game with an injury early in the second period and did not return.

Andrew Campbell of the Soo Greyhounds joined the team on Sunday to help fill the void.

Thunderbirds goaltender Travis O'Brien stopped 23 of 28 shots while Robin kicked aside 33 of 34 shots.

The Eskimos came into the contest playing under their third different head coach of the season. Former NHLer Darren Turcotte is now the bench boss as Barry McKinlay moves down to assistant coach. Tony Augello started the year as skipper.

The Thunderbirds will now play another four road games before concluding the regular season with a game against the Northern Michigan Black Bears at the Rhodes beginning at 7:30 p.m. on March 8.

Next action for the locals is Friday in the Michigan Sault against the Black Bears at the Big Bear Arena at 7:30 p.m.

With a record of 28-14-1 for 57 points, the Thunderbirds find themselves a single point ahead of both Northern Michigan and the North Bay Skyhawks for second place in the NOJHL. The Soo trails the first place Sudbury Junior Wolves by 10 points with a game in hand.

*** FRIDAY:

On Friday against Manitoulin, Chris Towell and Mike McMillan, who also added a pair of assists, scored two goals each in the 7-6 win. Ryan Maunu added a goal and three assists, Mark Thorburn scored once and set up another while Kyle Rodgers scored once.

The Thunderbirds outshot Manitoulin 48-31 and O'Brien took the win.