Thunderbirds hammer Beavers

The Soo Thunderbirds regained their winning form with an offensive explosion against the Blind River Beavers.

Scoring the game's first six goals, the Thunderbirds cruised to an 8-1 victory over the Beavers in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action in Blind River on Wednesday night.

The win improves the Thunderbirds record to 14-3-2-1 for 31 points and a seven point lead over second place Northern Michigan in the West Division. The Beavers fall to 6-14-1-1.

The victory also ends a three-game road trip which saw the team open with a 6-0 shutout of Rayside Balfour before a 4-3 loss to Sudbury.

The Thunderbirds took a 3-0 lead in the first period on goals from Bryan Pearse, Matt Dias and Josh Leddy on the power play. D.J. Jelitto with two and Nick Tombari added three more goals in the second to give the Birds a 6-0 lead.

After Frank Maddaloni scored on the power play for the Beavers to close the second period, Mike MacMillan and Justin Towell on the power play capped the scoring the third period.

Kyle Jones recorded two assists while Pearse and Tombari added an assist each.

Mike Downer kicked aside 26 of the 27 shots he faced in net for the Thunderbirds while the Soo fired 43 shots on Brock Lees, who was pulled after the second period, and Jeff Rose.

The Thunderbirds return home on Friday to host the North Bay Skyhawks beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the John Rhodes Community Centre.

In other NOJHL action on Wednesday, Kyle Mason scored the game winner on a breakaway in the third period to break a 2-2 tie as the Manitoulin Wild won only their sixth game of the season by stunning the Sudbury Northern Wolves 3-2 in Sudbury.

The loss was only the fourth of the year for the NOJHL leaders, who now hold a 18-4-2 record for 38 points but have played four more games than the Thunderbirds.