Thunderbirds rally to beat Eskimos

A change of their home rink for one night didn't faze the Soo Thunderbirds on Saturday.

The Thunderbirds overcame four first period goals to battle back for a 5-4 win over the Abitibi Eskimos in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action at the Soo Pee Wee Arena on Saturday night.

The Thunderbirds took the lead in the opening period as Tom Vernelli opened the scoring at 8:03 when he took a pass from Alex Butkus who circled the net and fed Vernelli in the slot.

At 9:16 Jason Weigel gave the Thunderbirds a 2-0 lead after taking a cross-ice feed from Mike MacMillan and burying a shot past Abitibi goaltender Cedric Bradette.

After that, Abitibi took over in the period scoring four times in just over four minutes.

Matt Tremblay got the Eskimos on the boards at 12:48 with his 28th goal of the season. Dan Wafer then tied the game at 14:04 when he beat Soo netminder Jarrett Michaels on a point shot through a screen.

Tremblay then scored his second goal of the night on a perfectly placed shot that beat Michaels high to the short side. Wafer capped off the Abitibi scoring when he scored on the power play at 16:51 to give the Eskimos a 4-2 lead heading into the first intermission.

In the second, Aaron Anderson got the Thunderbirds back into the game early in the period when he scored at 1:55. Michaels kept the game close with a big stop on Tremblay, preventing the Abitibi sniper from picking up his third of the night just under five minutes into the period.

Then at 10:28, the Eskimos were handed the task of killing off a two-man advantage. Ryan MacKay made the Eskimos pay the price as he scored with three seconds left in the two-man advantage to tie the game.

In the third period, Justin Towell gave the Thunderbirds a lead that they would not relinquish as he beat Bradette. The goal capped off a big comeback win for the Thunderbirds, who were able to gain two more points on the Northern Michigan Black Bears in the NOJHL's West Division standings.

Thunderbirds coach Jim Capy was pleased with the way his team responded after giving up four goals in the opening period although he had hoped his team would use the smaller Pee Wee ice surface to their advantage and use their size more.

"You get up two goals early and you're looking for that killer instinct," Capy said following the win. "The important thing is after the fourth goal, Michaels settled in nicely and gave us a chance to win. We had some chances but we didn't finish. Physically, we didn't take advantage of the smaller ice surface."

Capy was also impressed with the effort put forth by the Eskimos, a team that always seem to give the Thunderbirds a battle.

"They're just so well coached," Capy said. "You're not going to see an 8-0 game anymore with them."

The Thunderbirds were able to play without the services of three key players in Eric Sargent, who was out of the line-up due to his grandfather being ill, along with Jeff Elliot and Josh Leddy, both of whom are injured although Elliot is back skating.

"To win without three of your best players says a lot about the depth of our team," Capy said.

The two points were important for the Thunderbirds as it increases their lead over the Black Bears to six points along with three games in hand. The Black Bears will face off against the Eskimos on Sunday afternoon.

Capy was somewhat disappointed with the size of the crowd at the game, although the rink's atmosphere for a junior A game is strong.

The Thunderbirds are now off until Wednesday night when they travel to St. Ignace to take on the Black Bears at 7:30. The locals then return home for a game on Friday night against the Manitoulin Wild at the John Rhodes Community Centre.