NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
NOJHL NETWORK MEDIA UPDATE
Release Date: Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017
Make it 9 straight wins for T-Birds with triumph over Canadians
SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. – The Soo Thunderbirds earned their ninth consecutive victory Tuesday evening and reached the 40-win plateau on the season as they skated past the Rayside-Balfour Canadians 7-2 Tuesday evening in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action at the John Rhodes Community Centre.
Action in the opening period saw Sault Ste. Marie register the lone tally of the session as Matthew Caruso collected his 26th goal of 2016-17 by converting on a two-man advantage opportunity 4:13 into the contest.
The Thunderbirds added to their lead eight and a half minutes into the middle stanza as Keenan Eddy struck shorthanded to put the home side up by a pair.
Rayside-Balfour cut into the deficit during a two-man advantage of their own on Evan Krassey’s 12th of the campaign at 10:05.
Soo captain Caruso regained the cushion for his club as 13:30 as he picked up his second of the evening for his sixth multi-goal game of the season.
Mike Winn made it 4-1 T-Birds in the latter stages of the period with Caruso picking up his third point of the night by providing a helper.
In the third, Austin Kozluk then scored for a seventh straight game to go with an earlier assist as he extended a point streak to nine as well etching his name on the score sheet for the 15th time in his past 16 contests.
Matthew Neault got one back for the Canadians at 14:08 before the Soo finished things off with tallies from Keegan Stevenson and Zach Senecal’s team-leading 29th to round out the scoring.
Caruso and Senecal joined Greg Smith, Ryan Mulligan with two assists apiece.
The T-Birds outshot Rayside-Balfour 41-25 in the contest with Dougie Newhouse picking up the win and Cameron Lamour the loss.
Photos by James Egan’s Sports Photography
