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Thunderbirds get in win column in Kirkland Lake

The Soo Thunderbirds picked up its first victory at the 2016 Dudley Hewitt Cup in Kirkland Lake on Wednesday
Game3-Soo-FortFrances (1)
Photo courtesy Jean-Rene Daoust (capturingthemoment.ca)

The word fortunate describes the feeling for the Soo Thunderbirds after picking up its first victory of the 2016 Dudley Hewitt Cup in Kirkland Lake on Wednesday.

After opening the tournament with a loss on day one against the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Trenton Golden Hawks 24 hours earlier, the Thunderbirds beat the Superior International Hockey League’s Fort Frances Lakers 6-5 on Wednesday afternoon.

A pair of goals in the third period by Zach Senecal was the difference for the Thunderbirds.

“We feel that we still haven’t played to our potential,” said Thunderbirds Coach Jordan Smith. “We’re obviously happy to get the win but in saying that we’re also very fortunate to win because of our play. Our discipline was once again a factor. We’re just doing a lot of things that aren’t characteristic of our hockey team.”

Discipline was an issue for the Thunderbirds on Wednesday, much like it was on opening day. Fort Frances scored three times on seven man-advantage opportunities in the game.

The Thunderbirds penalty kill got some extensive work in the first half of the second period. After an early penalty to captain Brett Jeffries, Adam McPhail was given a major penalty and game misconduct for a check from behind on Lakers forward A.J. Rupert 17 seconds later, giving Fort Frances an extended 5-on-3 power play.

The Lakers scored 22 seconds into the two-man advantage and again 45 seconds later during the five-minute power play. The Thunderbirds would then hold the Lakers off the scoresheet until a penalty shot goal with 2:16 left in regulation time.

“For the first time, we faced some major adversity and when you’re in a situation like we were in, it’s only natural to doubt yourself and to question yourself and I give our guys credit for staying mentally tough throughout the game,” Smith said of the penalty kill at the time. “Really it could have been a lot worse and we were able to battle ourselves back into the game and end up tying it midway through the second period and found a way (to win).”

Senecal scored three times to pace the Thunderbirds offensively. His goals in the final period came after the rookie forward returned to the ice after serving the major penalty to McPhail and then serving a too many men penalty after a miscommunication led to another Thunderbirds penalty.

Senecal came on the ice after the major penalty and was heading to the bench when a loose puck made its way toward the rookie. Heading to the bench after the penalty, Senecal wound up playing the puck, leading to the minor penalty.

“To see Zach bounce back and score two huge goals in the third was awesome for him,” Smith said.

Caleb Boman chipped in with a pair of goals for the Thunderbirds while Khadyn Butterfly also scored. Michael Caruso, Matthew Busby and Matthew Mitchell assisted on two goals each for the Thunderbirds, who scored twice on the power play in the game.

The Thunderbirds now have four power play goals in the tournament after two games.

“It’s just execution,” Smith said of the power play success on the opening two days. “Our power play has been one of the bright spots right now. We’ve been sticking to our units and executing. As the tournament goes on here, special teams are going to be huge and it’s nice to see that our power play has had some success.”

Connor Ryckman made 34 saves for the Thunderbirds.

The major penalty and game misconduct will see McPhail miss the Thunderbirds final round robin game but any further suspension wasn’t known on Wednesday evening. Rupert saw limited action in the game following the hit.

Nick Minerva had a goal and two assists while Dylan Robertson assisted on three goals for the Lakers. Dylan Kooner had a goal and an assist for the Lakers. Rupert, Nolan Ross and Christian Ripley also scored.

Pierce Dushenko got the start for the Lakers, stopping 18 of 22 shots before leaving the game in the second period due to injury. Brandon Bodnar came in and stopped 14 of 16 shots in the final 26 minutes of the game.

The Thunderbirds wrap up the round robin on Thursday night against the Gold Miners. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m.

The game was a rematch of the championship game of the 2015 Dudley Hewitt Cup, a game that the Thunderbirds won 3-2 to advance to the RBC Cup. The Thunderbirds won both meetings in last years tournament.

Wednesday’s other game featured Kirkland Lake and Trenton but was not complete at the time of writing.


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Brad Coccimiglio

About the Author: Brad Coccimiglio

A graduate of Loyalist College’s Sports Journalism program, Brad Coccimiglio’s work has appeared in The Hockey News as well as online at FoxSports.com in addition to regular freelance work with SooToday before joining the team full time.
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