Thunderbirds win road trip opener

The Soo Thunderbirds opened up a stretch of road games on Friday night on a positive note.

The Thunderbirds skated to a 6-1 victory over the Elliot Lake Wildcats in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League Friday.

Matthew Caruso paced the Thunderbirds with a goal and two assists while Gage Stephney had a goal and an assist. Zach Senecal picked up a pair of assists for the Thunderbirds.

Keenan Eddy, Greg Smith, Austin Kozluk and Mark Tassone completed the scoring for the Thunderbirds.

Goaltender Brandon Gordon made 21 saves.

Elliot Lake starter Matt Kostiw had a busy night, stopping 35 shots in just over two periods of work before being pulled after the Thunderbirds sixth goal. Justin Richer came in and stopped all six shots he faced in the final 17 minutes of the contest.

David Elford had the lone goal for the Wildcats.

The Thunderbirds, with a 12-5-0-0 record, return to action on Saturday night in Espanola against the Express.

In other NOJHL action on Friday night Mules Hektor made 39 saves as the Blind River Beavers blanked the Cochrane Crunch 2-0 in Cochrane. Yianni Liarakos had a goal and an assist for the Beavers. The loss was Cochrane’s first in regulation time in 14 games this season.

Andy Baker had a pair of goals as the Powassan Voodoos beat the Rayside Balfour Canadians 5-1 in Powassan. Eric Nagy, Tyler Gervais-Rolfe and Tye Lindeman had a pair of assists each for Powassan. Bradley Johnson had the lone goal for the Canadians.

In Kirkland Lake, Kevin Ford had three goals and an assist as the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners beat the Iroquois Falls Eskis 6-4. Alex Storjohann and Austin Ramirez chipped in with a goal and assist each for the Gold Miners. David Osborne had a goal and an assist for the Eskis.

Bradley Hofelich had three goals and two assists as the Soo (Mich.) Eagles picked up an 11-2 win on home ice over the Espanola Express. Jake Saxton added two goals and two assists for the Eagles while Chris Lutz had a goal and two assists for the Eagles. Chris Murphy assisted on five goals. Espanola goaltender Kyle Alaverdy stopped 47 shots.