ESPANOLA, Ont. – An impressive Adam Pszeniczny marker with 3:54 remaining in regulation proved to be the game-winner as the Soo Thunderbirds skated to an eventual 6-4 victory over the Espanola Paper Kings Friday night in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest at the Regional Recreation Complex.
Visiting Sault Ste. Marie also began the night’s scoring nearly seven minutes into the proceedings when Callum McAuley controlled a bouncing puck in the Espanola end and wired it from the slot between the pad and blocker of Paper Kings’ starter Logan Vale.
Coming back to tie it half-way through the first period, Colton Loiselle picked off a pass in his own end, which allowed him to send Carter Drigo in alone on a breakaway who buried a shot into the left corner on Soo netminder Cameron Boville.
Regaining the lead at 14:16, Aiden Atkinson put the T-Birds back on top as he neatly redirected a Max DeCoff wrister from the right point.
Going up by a pair off an odd-man rush early in the second, Deven Jones-McDonald finished off a nice give-and-go with Atkinson to make it 3-1 Soo.
Espanola’s Ashton Pitawanakwat then wired a shot from the left circle a couple of shifts later and while play carried on for quite some time, the officials gathered and eventually ruled the attempt had beat Boville and gone in to bring the home side back to within one.
A man-down effort from Atkinson put the Thunderbirds back up by two as he snagged the puck off a defender, then wheeled around the net and cut out in front where he lifted it high off the glove of Vale and in at 11:02.
A couple of minutes after that saw the Paper Kings opt to make a brief goaltending change with Jack Helkie entering in relief before Vale returned to the ice for Espanola.
Roaring back in the third, the home side tallied twice to knot the affair at 4-4 with just under nine minutes to play.
Cameron Menard brought his club closer by getting the last touch off a goal-mouth scramble before Nicholas Arbour tied it at even strength as he jammed in his chance while battling in front.
Regrouping, the Soo retook the lead in the late going as Pszeniczny used a nifty toe-drag before sending a sizzler high over the blocker of Vale for the decider.
The T-Birds then tacked on some insurance with a spinning long-range empty net effort from DeCoff to secure the road triumph for the Soo.
