Thunderbirds drop overtime decision in Blind River

They came from behind twice and gained a point, but the Soo Thunderbirds will return home minus a victory.

Justin Mauro scored in the opening minute of overtime to give the Blind River Beavers a 3-2 win over the Thunderbirds in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action on Thursday night in Blind River.

After circling the Thunderbirds net and dropping the puck to Maxwell Tucker, Mauro went to the net and took a feed from Tucker before beating Thunderbirds netminder Colin Ahern to give the Beavers the win.

Tucker assisted on a pair of goals for Blind River. Caleb Serre and Andrew Malek also scored.

Goaltender Jonathan Lemaire made 31 saves for the Beavers, who improve to 9-1-1-0.

Matthew Bazarin and Jacob Kovacs scored for the Thunderbirds while Ahern made 33 saves.

The Thunderbirds are winless in their last six games, having gone 0-3-1-2 and fall to 3-6-1-2 on the season.

The two teams meet again on Friday night as the home-and-home series shifts to Sault Ste. Marie. Puck drop at the John Rhodes Community Centre is set for 7 p.m.