Thunderbirds tame Wild (Photos added)

The Soo Thunderbirds gained a valuable two points by rolling past the struggling Manitoulin Wild on Sunday afternoon.

Facing a Manitoulin team suffering through off ice issues, the Thunderbirds broke open the game with a four goal second period to cruise to a 9-3 win at the John Rhodes Community Centre.

The win was vital as the Thunderbirds fight to keep pace in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League's western division.

The third place Thunderbirds remain one point behind the Blind River Beavers and seven points behind the streaking Northern Michigan Black Bears for first place.

In a listless first period of play, the Wild grabbed a 1-0 lead on a Frank Maddaloni goal before Jacob Lalonde and Mark Thorburn scored 40 seconds apart later in the frame for a 2-1 Thunderbirds lead.

After Brent Henley tied the game for the Wild 56 seconds into the second period, the Thunderbirds broke the game open as Matt Caria scored three times and Kyle Jones added another on the power play.

Kyle Rodgers, Lalonde and Drew Jarrett added third period goals for the T-Birds while Henley replied with his second of the game for the Wild.

Caria added three assists to his hat trick for a six point performance while Ryan Maunu and Matt Dias recorded two assists each. Jones, Lalonde, Jarrett and Rodgers also setup one goal each for a two point game.

Matt Hache recorded the win in goal while the Soo outshot the Wild 37-26.

"I was happy that we scored as many goals as we did," said Thunderbirds head coach Toots Kovacs. "We haven't scored that many goals as a team in a while so it was nice to see the boys move the puck around, setup some nice plays and work on a few things.

"It was kind of a dull start but the we asked the guys to pick it up after the first period and they responded. We played with more emotion and I thought we played well as a team."

The game also featured a pair of fights, which are not overly common in the NOJHL, as Jeff Elliot tangled with the Wild's Wade Debassige before Thorburn battled the Manitoulin's Steve Natywary.

The loss for the Wild marked the third consecutive game in which the team has been blown out. On Friday, Rayside Balfour smacked the Wild 8-2 before Northern Michigan thumped Manitoulin 10-2 on Saturday.

The Thunderbirds return to action with a single game this week on Wednesday in St. Ignace against the Black Bears at 7:30 p.m.

(All photos supplied courtesy of Jim Egan.)