Thunderbirds draw first blood

BLIND RIVER -- The Soo Thunderbirds may have won the first battle but the war is far from over.

Using their tenacious work ethic, the Thunderbirds doubled up the Blind River Beavers 4-2 on Thursday night here at the Blind River Community Centre to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League western division semi-final.

Game two is scheduled for Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Blind River.

If the first game is any indication, the entire series is shaping up to be a rough affair. Both teams engaged in some chippy play and more than few players left the arena on the limp.

Not being intimated by the large ruckus crowd in Blind River, the Thunderbirds jumped on the Beavers off the start and grabbed a 1-0 lead 1:54 into the game when Matt Caria converted a Ryan Maunu feed past Beavers goaltender Brock Lees.

The Thunderbirds thought they had a 2-0 lead late in the period but the referee changed his call after consulting the linesmen and goal judge after initially signalling a goal.

Blind River rallied to tie the game shortly after when Thomas Laplante beat Thunderbirds goaltender Michael Maulucci with 1:19 remaining in the frame.

The Thunderbirds ran into some serious penalty problems in the first period when Maunu and Caria received back-to-back 10 minute misconducts but the Beavers couldn't capitalize with the Soo's top two offensive weapons in the penalty box.

Maunu then left the game shortly after his return in the second period when Beavers forward Matt Buha laid a two hand slash across the ankle of Maunu behind the play. Buha received a double minor for his efforts while Maunu was helped off the ice but returned for the third period.

Justin Shelleby then put the Thunderbirds back ahead with a power play goal just 22 seconds into Buha's first minor.

Caria iced the game for the Thunderbirds with his second goal of the night 36 seconds into the third period.

Blind River pressed the Thunderbirds nearly the entire period but Derek MacKay added an insurance marker for the Soo midway through the frame after Darren Rainville scored on the power play to pull the Beavers back to within a goal.

The rough play continued down the stretch as Adam Kauppi fought Buha, Maulucci engaged in a punch up with Rainville and Nathan Hookimaw took a run at Pat Keating away from the play with eight seconds remaining.

"The boys played hard right from the start and Michael Maulucci made some big saves for us," said Thunderbirds head coach Toots Kovacs. "We definitely can't get over confident because it's only one win but it is nice to come out with the victory.

"Every boo is a cheer on the road and we had to overcome the fans and the noise. Our boys are happy right now but we need to come back with the same work ethic on Saturday that we brought tonight because I know Blind River will be ready to go."

Caria added an assist for a three point night while Maunu, Jacob Lalonde and Matt Dias finished with two assists each. Billy Schill recorded a pair of assists for the Beavers while Laplante added another.

"I didn't think that was much of a hockey game," said Beavers skipper Jim Capy. "It was more of a war. It's going to be a long seven game war. But I do think that we were intimidated by them and by the referee. We talked about work ethic at the start of the series and they worked just a little bit harder than us.

"We have to compete harder in game two than we did tonight. We have a chance to win every game we play but this not going to be an easy series and Saturday is critical because we can't afford to be going into the Sault down 2-0."

Maulucci stopped 40 of 42 shots for the win while the Thunderbirds fired 41 shots at Lees.

"It's a emotional time in the playoffs and each team tries to goad the other into extra penalties but I thought the referee set the tone with the 10 misconducts early in the game and it did settle down a bit after that," said Kovacs.

The series will shift to Sault Ste. Marie for games three and four on Monday and Wednesday at the John Rhodes Community Centre beginning at 7:30 p.m.

GAME PHOTOS WILL BE ADDED.