Thunderbirds offense continues to soar over Wild

Heading into this weekend's games with Rayside Balfour and Manitoulin, Soo Thunderbirds head coach Jim Capy was hoping that some of his players who had been in scoring slumps as of late would break out.

Not only did they break out, but they broke out in a big way.

One night after knocking off the Rayside Balfour Sabrecats 13-1, the Thunderbirds used a five-goal third period to knock off the Manitoulin Wild 7-2 in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action on Saturday night at the John Rhodes Community Centre. Manitoulin opened the scoring 3:45 into the game when Brent Assinewai beat Thunderbirds netminder Mike Downer on the short side to give the visitors the early lead.

The lead was short-lived though as Kelly Thomson beat Wild starter Matt George to tie the game at 1-1.

In the second period, the Thunderbirds took the lead on a power play marker by D.J. Jelitto, who had a strong game.

The Wild battled back and tied the game 2-2 when Assinewai scored his second goal of the game in the final minute of the period.

The Thunderbirds opened the game up in the third though, scoring five unanswered goals en route to the victory.

Justin Towell scored one minute in. Then at 4:42, Alex Butkus scored his first of two goals on the night. Jelitto gave the home side a 5-2 lead at 8:38 before Butkus made it 6-2 at 9:17. Tom Vernelli capped the scoring at 16:14.

"I thought the third period tonight might have been our best period all year," Capy said of his team's five-goal outburst in the period. "Between the second and the third we talked about how important these two points were in the standings."

Capy went on to say that he was happy with the offensive output of his team over the past two games, although his biggest concern heading into his team's upcoming home-and-home series with Northern Michigan is numbers.

What makes the situation tougher is that the Thunderbirds lost the services of defenseman Jeff Elliott to a knee injury and Bryan Pearse to a shoulder injury.

The Birds were also without the services of Matt Dias, who is playing with the Soo North Stars Midget team this weekend in Waterloo, as well as new acquisition Darren Michelutti.

"We had some guys who have been in a bit of a slump. I think we've regained some confidence," Capy said. "Going into the home and home (with Northern Michigan) our biggest concern was numbers.

"We lost maybe our best defenceman (Elliott) to a serious knee injury. Pearse should be back by Wednesday. We should have another goaltender by Monday too."

The Thunderbirds now prepare for the home-and-home series with the Northern Michigan Black Bears beginning Wednesday night in St. Ignace at 7:30 p.m. while the second game will be at the Rhodes next Sunday night at 6 p.m.