Thunderbirds snap losing skid

The Soo Thunderbirds were looking to get back to their winning ways on Friday night as they hooked up with the Abitibi Eskimos in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action.

After starting the season with 11 wins and two ties in their first 13 games, the Thunderbirds had fallen on hard times, having dropped three straight entering Friday's game.

The T-Birds knew they were in tough as they had only four healthy defensemen for the game as Kyle Jones and James Marcy, who recently made the jump to Division 3 college hockey with Concordia, were out of the lineup.

After giving them all they could handle, the Thunderbirds came out on top with a 7-4 win over the visiting Eskimos at the John Rhodes Community Centre.

In the opening period, the Thunderbirds got on the board early as Ryan MacKay scored his first of two goals on the night, beating Abitibi netminder Cedric Bradette.

Just over two minutes later, Matt Tremblay got the Eskimos on the board with his 15th goal of the season. Abitibi took the lead late in the period on the power play when Francois Lepage scored on a point shot that skipped in front of Soo netminder Mike Downer at 17:46.

Bryan Pearse got the Thunderbirds back on even terms when he scored with five seconds left in the period to send the teams into the dressing room tied at 2-2 after a period.

In the second period, the Thunderbirds wasted no time in getting the lead back as defenseman Andrew Jakubaitis scored in the opening minute of the period.

A goal by Jessy Lebel tied the game at 3-3 but two goals just over a minute apart by Kelly Thomson and MacKay gave the home side a 5-3 edge heading into the final frame.

The MacKay goal, his second of the night, chased Bradette from the Abitibi goal as Ryan Scott came in to finish off the game.

In the final frame, the Eskimos looked as though they were going to claw back into it as Yves Bernard scored at 13:20 to cut the Soo lead to 5-4, but a goal by Matt Dias at 15:21 and an empty net goal by Aaron Anderson with the Thunderbirds two men short capped off the win for the Birds.

Thunderbirds head coach Jim Capy said he has been concerned with his team's play of late as they seem to have played to the level of their opponent on a number of occasions.

"That's been a problem," Capy said following the win. "We've been inconsistent with our play."

Capy went on to say that he was happy with the play of his four defensemen. With Jones out of the lineup and Marcy in college, Capy had MacKay, Jakubaitis, Jeff Elliot and Eric McKechnie to work with.

Justin Towell, a forward who can also substitute on defense when needed, was also out of the lineup serving a suspension. MacKay was named the game's first star while Jakubaitis was named third star.

Capy was also happy with the play of young Matt Dias. Dias, who doesn't turn 16 until April of next year, left the game late in the opening period after receiving a cut which required stitches. The young forward returned for the third period and proceeded to score an insurance goal.

"Matt, early in the year, was one of our best players," Capy said of Dias. "He was very effective."

In goal Downer stopped 26 Abitibi shots in the win, while Bradette and Scott combined to stop 31 Soo shots.

Next action for the Thunderbirds will be an exhibition game with the Michigan Soo Kewadin Casino Indians of the North American Hockey League on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Chi Mukwa (Big Bear) Arena in Sault, Michigan.

The teams will return to the John Rhodes Community Centre next Friday for an exhibition game beginning at 7:30 p.m.