Thunder rolls to a tie with Belle Tire

The Soo Thunder bantams and Detroit's Belle Tire engaged in a chippy affair which saw both teams leave with a tie and several penalty minutes at the 23rd Annual Steel City International Hockey Tournament on Friday afternoon.

Belle Tire's Ben Miller scored early in the third period to gain to a 2-2 tie with the Thunder in Bantam Major division action at the John Rhodes Community Centre.

The Thunder, now 1-0-1 through two days of competition, will participate in a crossover as teams from the A division and B division will play each other on Saturday to determine the four playoff spots for Sunday's semi-finals.

On Friday, Belle Tire grabbed a 1-0 lead just over two minutes into the contest on a goal from Chris Klaft.

Kevin Smith answered for the Thunder later in the period before Michael Quesnele put the Soo ahead 2-1 in the second.

"They play chippy and get in your face after the whistle and our guys were standing up to them," said Thunder head coach Ken Hruska. "In a close game like that you don't want your team taking penalties like that but we managed to take a point out a hard fought game which clinches first place in our division.

"The players on this team are pretty good about backing off when I tell them but in a chippy game like that it's tough and you have to learn to keep your emotions under control."

Thunder goaltender Thomas Graveliner was solid throughout and was named the game's most valuable player for his efforts.

On Saturday at the Rhodes, the Thunder will battle Minnesota's Wayzata at 1:30 p.m. before meeting Detroit Little Caesar's at 7 p.m.