The Mattawa Blackhawks dropped a pair of home contests during their weekend double header against the visiting Sault Ste. Marie Thunderbirds.
On Sunday, the red-hot Soo Thunderbirds skated to their ninth consecutive Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League victory Sunday afternoon after dropping the Mattawa Blackhawks 8-4 at Mike Rodden Arena.
The Thunderbirds came out flying in this building a 3-0 lead in the opening 12 minutes on markers by Nathan Hebert and a pair by Nicolas Sicoly to spell an early end to Mattawa starter Josh Horner’s day.
After Henry Yawit connected on the power play for the Blackhawks at 14:09, Sault Ste. Marie countered with a couple of man advantage efforts of their own by Anthony Miller and Matt Busby to up 5-1 after 20 minutes.
In the second the T-Birds added to their lead at 6:33 courtesy of Joey Miller before Mattawa’s Kyle Baril added one on the power play for the Hawks 80 seconds later.
Eric Hillock then struck shorthanded for Sault Ste. Marie at 15:53 to make 7-2 heading into the final frame.
Special teams allowed Mattawa to draw closer in the third as they got power play markers Jimmy Philbin and Andy Williams, but the Thunderbirds’ Hebert rounded out the scoring in the final moments with his second of the game.
Joey Miller finished with three assists to go along with his goal for a four-point contest.
Marino Culina made 41 saves to record the win for the Sault as they improved to 11-2 on the season.
Horner and Joe Sheppard combined to face 45 shots in defeat Mattawa as they slipped to 1-11-0-1 on the season.
Hawks fall in Double OT
With the two teams playing three skaters aside in double overtime Anthony Miller scored his second goal of the game helping the Soo Thunderbirds rally to slip past the Mattawa Blackhawks 7-6 Saturday night in Mattawa.
The high-scoring affair saw each side tally twice in the opening 20 minutes with Joey Miller and Nicolas Sicoly scoring for Sault Ste. Marie while Colin Nicholson and Nathan Avery countered for Mattawa.
The home side went up 4-2 early in the second stanza on markers supplied by Brett Ouderkirk and Nicholson, which spelled the end of Thunderbirds’ netminder evening in favour of Mario Culina.
After Nicolas Tassone brought the visitors back to within one at 11:17, Mattawa’s Jimmy Philbin connected six minutes later to make it 5-3 only to see Izaak Del Mastro answer that with one for the Soo with 79 seconds left in the middle session.
In the third, Kyle Baril’s fifth of the campaign put the Hawks in front by two once again.
With an seven-game winning streak in jeopardy, the Thunderbirds battled back to force extra time with Miller bringing his side closer with 7:07 to go before Sicoly tied it with just 23 seconds remaining in regulation.
Neither side would score in the first OT, but Miller capped the comeback and his squad’s eighth straight triumph late in the second OT to give the Thunderbirds the win.
Culina finished with 33 saves in relief to register the victory with Kment giving up four against on 15 attempts.
Joe Sheppard was pelted with 72 shots in the contest in the Mattawa net helping his team pick-up a point in the standings.
