NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
NOJHL NETWORK MEDIA UPDATE
Release Date: Sunday, Feb. 19, 2017
Surging Thunderbirds win 6th straight with victory over Canadians
CHELMSFORD, Ont. – The surging Soo Thunderbirds won their sixth consecutive Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest Sunday evening at Chelmsford Arena as the defeated the Rayside-Balfour Canadians 3-1.
Sault Ste. Marie is also unbeaten in their past 10 outings with nine victories and a tie to their credit in that span.
In Sunday’s match-up, Rayside-Balfour did get on the board first as Chad Denault collected his 18th goal of the season at 3:23.
The Thunderbirds came right back to tie 39 seconds later on Keenan Eddy’s 12th of 2016-17.
The Soo then struck twice later in the first period less than a minute apart with Ryan Waterhouse and Austin Kozluk both beating Canadians starter Cameron Lamour.
Kozluk’s marker saw him score for a fourth straight game as well as extend a point streak to six in succession.
The goaltenders took over from there as both the Thunderbirds’ Dougie Newhouse and the Canadians’ Lamour prevented any more goals from being scored.
Newhouse made 28 stops to record the win as he improved to 12-1-1-0 in his rookie season in the NOJHL while sending his club’s overall record to 37-11-1-1.
Lamour finished with 40 saves in defeat as Rayside-Balfour slipped to 25-22-3-1 on the year.
Kaidan McDonald chipped in with two assists for the T-Birds.