Thunderbirds top Eagles in NOJHL opener

Playing with a short bench, the opening game of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League regular season had some positives for the Soo Thunderbirds.

A goal by Kaidan McDonald with 9.2 seconds to go in the second period was the ultimate difference as the Thunderbirds skated to a 7-5 victory over the Soo (Mich.) Eagles at the John Rhodes Community Centre on Friday night. 

The goal by McDonald, who converted a feed in the slot from Noah Boman, capped off a four-goal second period for the home team in the victory. 

The game saw the Thunderbirds play with just 14 skaters due to some suspensions.

“It was a tough battle,” said Thunderbirds coach John Parco. “We were short, especially on D. We had two important defencemen out (Steven Bellini and Tristan Cicchello) and they did well. They battled.”

The group of defencemen in the Thunderbirds lineup included youngster Jack Matier, a 2003 birth year defenceman.

“He’s going to be a really talented hockey player,” Parco said. “He’s going to be a great defenceman.”

Pleased with the Thunderbirds hunger in the win and the team standing up for teammates after a pair of hits that he called “dangerous,” Parco spoke of the Thunderbirds looking to get better defensively heading into a Sunday road game against the Rayside Balfour Canadians.

“We definitely need to clean up our defensive zone,” Parco said. “They had three goals that were tap-ins from right in front of the crease.”

Lucas Theriault had two goals and two assists for the Thunderbirds while Boman had a goal and two assists. Jonathan Mackin and Tyler Malpass had a goal and an assist while Nick Smith set up a pair of goals. Nolan Ford also scored for the Thunderbirds.

Goaltender Colin Ahern stopped 24 shots.

Caleb Wood and Riley Jensen had two goals each for the Eagles. Mihali See chipped in with a goal and an assist. Brendan Blair and Matt Capisciolto assisted on two goals each for the Eagles.

Joseph Benedetto got the start for the Eagles and stopped 21 shots before being pulled early in the third period after the Thunderbirds seventh goal. Caleb Sauer stopped four shots the rest of the way.

“The Thunderbirds played hard,” said Eagles Coach Doug Laprade. “They got pucks in deep. They made good plays. They went to the net hard. They outhustled us. We played really good in the third period when we got going a little bit, but it was too late by then.”

Laprade went on to say the game saw the Eagles get “lazy” at times.

“When we played how we’ve been practicing, I was really happy with that,” Laprade said. “But we got away from a lot of that stuff and we got a little lazy. That’s not acceptable.”

After Sunday’s road game against the Canadians, the Thunderbirds return to action at home on Sept. 16 against the Elliot Lake Wildcats in a 7 p.m. start at the John Rhodes Community Centre.

In other action around the NOJHL on Friday night, Sault Ste. Marie product David Campbell scored three times as the Powassan Voodoos beat Rayside Balfour 5-3.