Thunderbirds eliminate Eagles from playoff contention

They entered the game firmly sitting in third in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League’s West Division, but there was still something on the line for the Soo Thunderbirds on Tuesday night.

In their final home game of the regular season, the Thunderbirds had an opportunity to officially end the season of the Soo Eagles and they did just that.

The Thunderbirds skated to a 3-1 victory over the Eagles Tuesday at the Northern Community Centre.

With that, the Eagles were officially eliminated from postseason contention in the West Division.

After a scoreless opening period, the Thunderbirds opened the scoring just over three minutes into the second period. Jonathan Sonedecker was stopped from the slot initially after taking a pass on the right wing from Quinn Myles. Myles proceeded to beat Eagles goaltender Anthony Zolezzi from the slot on the rebound.

Just 3:01 later, the Thunderbirds made it a 2-0 game as Samuel Lake scored on the power play. The veteran forward scored on a rebound in close after Zolezzi made a stop on a one-timer from the left circle from Jackson Truchan initially.

The Thunderbirds took a 3-0 lead thanks to a power play goal in the final period. Callum McAuley broke down the left wing and beat Zolezzi with a shot from the left circle high glove side just under five minutes into the period.

The Eagles got on the board with just under seven minutes to go in the third period as Benjamin Pouliot took a pass in the slot from Zach Sweitzer after a turnover near the Thunderbirds blueline and beat Thunderbirds goaltender Kolton Bourret to make it a 3-1 game.

Truchan and Declan Gallivan assisted on a pair of goals each for the Thunderbirds.

Bourret made 28 saves in the victory.

Zolezzi stopped 35 shots for the Eagles.

The Eagles end the regular season with a 33-22-1-2 record and end the season in fifth in the NOJHL’s West Division, though the team would have made the playoffs, by a significant margin had they played in the East Division.

The Thunderbirds will take a 37-13-4-1 record into play this weekend as the regular season wraps up.

The Thunderbirds return to action on Friday night as the team opens a three-game road trip to wrap up the regular season. The team will face the Timmins Rock on Friday night, the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners on Saturday and the Hearst Lumberjacks to wrap up regular season play on Sunday.