SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. – A solid start, then a pair of timely tallies from their captain Mathieu Comeau, lifted the Hearst Lumberjacks to their sixth straight win, a 6-3 triumph over the Soo Thunderbirds in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action Sunday at John Rhodes Community Centre.
Extending a consecutive game point streak to eight to commence the campaign, Ty McKay gave Hearst the early lead in this one as he beat Sault Ste. Marie starter Cameron Boville 4:45 into the contest after being set-up while driving down the slot by Hugo Allard.
Tacking on another four minutes later, the Lumberjacks went up by a pair thanks to Henry Ouellet, who was teed up near the left circle by Chase Thompson and promptly pumped in his opportunity.
A third in the session extended the visitors lead after Cole Shepherdson neatly redirected in a Royce Abraham wrister from the right point.
Going up by four, via the power play, at 5:14 of the middle stanza, McKay notched his second of the day by jamming in a puck that leaked through Boville off a William Pâquet shot.
The Thunderbirds came back to get on the board midway through the match-up on a two-on-one where Jayden Arnold generated the odd-man chance by chipping a play ahead off the side boards then raced down the left wing before sending a pass across Aiden Deratnay, who pumped in his first NOJHL goal past Owen Bonthuis in the Hearst net.
Building on that, the Soo banged in two more, while on the power play, to get right back in it.
Deven Jones-McDonald at 12:09 saw him deflect a Carter Carriere shot before Callum McAuley connected by coming down the left side and scoring from a sharp angle.
Regrouping, Comeau put Hearst ahead by three before the second intermission as they controlled a draw that allowed him to snag a loose puck in front then spin and whip in his sixth of the season.
Going to the final frame, Comeau helped wrap-up the result after swiping the puck off a defender down low and quickly swatting in a backhand on a surprised Boville to round out the scoring in the late going.
The result helped league-leading Hearst improve to 7-1-0-0 while the Soo saw a four-game winning streak come to an end and fall to 4-2-0-0.
