SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. – A three-point night from Adam Pszeniczny helped the Soo Thunderbirds soar past the rival Soo Eagles 8-1 Friday night in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action at John Rhodes Community Centre.
Striking early, the Thunderbirds Landon Hill chipped a play ahead out of his own zone and darted down the right wing before wiring a shot into the top left-hand corner on Eagles’ netminder Dalton Hoornstra, 2:24 into the contest.
Continuing their early onslaught, Andrew Warne got his initial league marker just over two minutes later for the home side when he wired one upstairs from the top of the left circle on a delayed penalty call.
The T-Birds then chased Hoornstra midway through the first period thanks to Jackson Mead putting in a nice short-side pass put to him from Pszeniczny.
Continuing to press, Hill made it 4-0 at 15:41 by beating backup Daryn Szabo, with help from Felix Sapay.
The Thunderbirds continued their onslaught 68 seconds into the middle stanza when Pszeniczny potted his first of the campaign.
A shorthanded marker from Samuel Gold got one back for the Eagles as he notched his first of the season with an unassisted effort at 8:59 that eluded goaltender Cameron Boville.
Another early effort from the T-Birds in the third helped put it out of reach thanks to Sean Gresko picking up his NOJHL-leading fourth of the campaign at 1:33.
More from Pszeniczny had him strike shorthanded in the back half of the third in securing the victory before Dreyon Boissoneau clicked on the power play late to notch his initial NOJHL marker in rounding out the scoring.
The win moves the Thunderbirds to 3-0 early in the season while the Eagles drop to 1-1.
