Soo Thunderbirds shoot down Skyhawks in OT

The North Bay Skyhawks buzz around the Soo Thunderbirds net during a late 3rd period powerplay. Photo by Chris Dawson.

Justin Shelleby scored with 12 seconds remaining in overtime as the Soo Thunderbirds upset the North Bay Skyhawks 3-2 at Memorial Gardens Friday night.

In the first period you wouldn't have thought this one would go to overtime as the Skyhawks came out flying outshooting the Thunderbirds 15-4, but the Skyhawks couldn't get the puck past Michael Maulucci, as the team's were even at 1-1 after one as David Frawley and Kyle Jones exchanged goals less than 20 seconds apart in the first period.

"We started out slow and our goaltender (Michael Maulucci) once again saved our bacon," said Thunderbirds Head Coach Zoltan "Toots" Kovacs.

In the second it was the Soo that took control out chancing the Skyhawks about 11-4. Matt Caria scored the lone marker of the second frame to give the Soo the lead 2-1 after two.

The Skyhawks were able to draw even on the powerplay around the mid-point of the third as Josh Merson beat Maulucci to even it up at 2.

In overtime both teams nearly finished it off on bad giveaway's as Lalande made a nice glove save early in OT, while Yves Bastien could not beat Maulucci from the slot with less than a minute to play.

Then with 12 seconds left Lalande and his defenceman misplay the puck and Justin Shelleby is able to put a weak backhand into an empty net for the Thunderbirds win.

"To come out of North Bay with two points is a huge victory and a huge lift our guys, this is a great building and the history you could hear the kids on the bus talking about coming to North Bay and playing here, it was a fantastic win," said an elated Kovacs.

The mood was not nearly as positive on the other end of the ice. Skyhawks coach Randy Edmonds gave credit to the Thunderbirds for the effort, but he wasn't happy with a lack of effort by his forwards to get to loose pucks in front of the Soo net.

"If you don't get that second effort around the front of the net you're not going to score a lot of goals, you have to be able to get to the paint and we did that sometimes but not enough," exclaimed Edmonds, whose team is coming off an easy 3-0 win against Rayside Thursday night.

"We played a good team tonight, they were ready for us, this is a good hockey club and they made us work."

Game Summary

First Period
1. NB: David Frawley (Jon Ryan, Ian Carlson) 17:29
2. SOO: Kyle Jones (Ryan Maunu, Matt Caria) 17:48 PP

Second Period
3. SOO: Matt Caria (Unassisted) 17:50

Third Period
4. NB: Josh Merson (Chase Gallacher, Tyler Perry) 9:08 PP

OT Period
5. SOO: Justin Shelleby (Jacob Lalonde) 4:48