Thunderbirds cap off regular season, playoffs on tap

While the result in the final game of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League regular season wasn’t what they wanted, the Soo Thunderbirds are rolling along heading into the postseason.

In their final 15 regular season games, the Thunderbirds picked up 12 wins and went 12-1-2-0 in that stretch.

The lone regulation loss was a 6-2 decision Sunday against the Hearst Lumberjacks in Hearst in a game that had no impact on the standings for either club.

The Thunderbirds enter the NOJHL playoffs, which begin this week, as the third seed in the NOJHL’s West Division.

In Sunday’s game, Hearst broke a 2-2 tie with a pair of goals in the final two minutes of the second period and added a pair of goals in the third to seal the victory.

Hearst jumped out to an early lead thanks to goals by DonHeaven Veilleux and Weslee Crosswell 24 seconds apart in the opening three minutes of the game.

The Thunderbirds cut into the lead midway through the opening frame thanks to a goal by Jacob Smith and tied the game at two on a goal by Callum McAuley with 2:06 to go in the second period.

Hearst took the lead for good shortly after the McAuley goal as, on the next shift, Alex McDonald made it a 3-2 game and Damien Bourdon-Lemoyne extended the lead to 4-2 by scoring with 1.5 seconds to go in the period.

Goals by Aiden Kalin and Lex Lamontagne in the third period sealed the victory for Hearst.

Maverick Fletcher made 19 saves for the Thunderbirds in the loss.

Bourdon-Lemoyne had a goal and an assist for Hearst while Bronson Babyak and Noah Janicki assisted on a pair of goals each in the victory.

Hearst goaltender Russ Decoste stopped 30 shots.

Sunday’s game capped off a busy finish to the regular season for the Thunderbirds, who played three games in three days on the final weekend of the schedule.

On Saturday night, the Thunderbirds skated to a 4-1 win over the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners.

The Thunderbirds scored four unanswered goals in the win over the final two periods after falling behind 1-0 late in the opening period.

McAuley had a goal and an assist for the Thunderbirds in the victory while Jackson Truchan, Quinn Myles, and Adam Kukko also scored.

Goaltender Maverick Fletcher made 34 saves.

Kirkland Lake goaltender Trent Boryszczuk made 57 saves in the loss. Stephen Amaro subbed in for Boryszczuk for one shift in the second period after the Thunderbirds took a 3-1 lead and stopped the only shot he faced.

Riley Babich had the lone goal for Kirkland Lake.

On Friday night, the Thunderbirds beat the Timmins Rock 7-1.

Jacob Smith had a pair of goals for the Thunderbirds in the victory.

Defenceman Declan Gallivan assisted on four Sault goals and Truchan added three helpers for the Thunderbirds.

Myles, Kelsey Ouellet, and Silas Crawford chipped in with a goal and an assist each.

Daniel Beaupre and Grayson Ebrahim had the other Sault goals while Samuel Lake assisted on a pair of goals.

Kolton Bourret stopped 31 shots for the Sault.

Brant Romaniuk and Mason Svarich scored for the Rock in the loss.

Patrick Boivin got the start in goal, stopping 19 of 24 shots for the Rock before being pulled. Dryden Riley stopped 17 of 19 Thunderbirds shots the rest of the way in just under 36 minutes of work.

The Thunderbirds end the regular season with a record of 39-14-4-1.

The team will open the playoffs on the road against the Greater Sudbury Cubs on Thursday night with game two in the best-of-7 series between the two clubs scheduled for the following night, also in Sudbury.

The series will then shift to Sault Ste. Marie for games three and four on March 25 and 26 at the John Rhodes Community Centre.

Sudbury finished regular season play with a record of 43-12-1-2.