Thunderbirds top Abitibi

The Soo Thunderbirds took some uncharacteristic penalties but when all was said and done, the locals came away with a 6-3 Northern Ontario Junior hockey League victory over the visiting Abitibi Eskimos on Friday evening.

Despite the uncharacteristic penalties, the Thunderbirds put together an effort that coach Toots Kovacs was pleased with when all was said and done.

The Thunderbirds had the game's first quality scoring opportunity when forward Matt Dias was robbed by Eskimos goaltender Steve Hamel with five minutes left in the opening period.

Not long after, Abitibi capitalized on the man-advantage as Yves Bernard knocked in a rebound after being turned aside twice by Thunderbirds goaltender Michael Maulucci. The goal came at 18:31.

The Thunderbirds wasted little time in the second period getting the game back on even terms as Dias made up for being turned aside earlier in the evening by splitting the Abitibi defensemen and sliding the puck past Hamel just 1:55 into the second period.

Then at 4:12, Matt Caria turned a shorthanded opportunity into a 2-1 lead as ho broke in alone on Hamel and converted his opportunity. Later in the period the Thunderbirds managed to take a 3-1 lead as Drew Jarrett knocked a rebound off a Pat Keating shot past Hamel and into the Abitibi goal at 14:40.

Matt Brunet pulled the Eskimos to within one at 16:49 when he beat Maulucci with a power play marker.

Early in the third period, Abitibi pulled even as Adam Chirkoski scored what turned out to be the only even-strength goal Abitibi would score when he potted a shot past Maulucci at 4:15.

Justin Shelleby put the Thunderbirds ahead to stay at 5:28, just moments into a Thunderbirds power play, when he fired a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle that found its way past Hamel.

Just 22 seconds later, Chris Towell gave the Thunderbirds a two goal cushion as he scored an unassisted marker. For good measure, Keating iced the game at 16:18 with his eighth goal of the season giving the Thunderbirds the 6-3 victory.

Following the game, Thunderbirds coach Toots Kovacs commented on the effort of his team to win the game, specifically in the third period after the Eskimos tied the game early in the period.

"The boys did what they had to do to win," Kovacs said. "Hard work got us where we are today. We as a coaching staff (Kovacs along with assistants Pat Carricato and Dave Watson) sense that (the players) are hungry and that they want to play every game like it's their last and that's very dangerous for the opposition."

Happy with the victory, Kovacs went on to say that there is one thing that his club needs to have in order to be successful.

"We have to play disciplined," Kovacs commented. "That means in two ways, first with no bad penalties and they have to follow our system. Our work ethic got us where we are."

With the Abitibi game now in the books, the Thunderbirds will gear up for another important game on Sunday afternoon. The West Division leading Northern Michigan Black Bears will make their final regular season appearance at the John Rhodes Community Centre in a 2 p.m. start time.

Following the game, the Thunderbirds embark on a short two game road trip to Manitoulin and Blind River before returning home for a Feb. 27 game against the Manitoulin Wild.

(All photos courtesy of Jim Egan.)