SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. – A pair of third period tallies broke open a one-goal game that helped the Soo Thunderbirds defeat the Elliot Lake Vikings 4-1 Saturday night in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest held at John Rhodes Community Centre.
It was the Thunderbirds who began the scoring 11:45 into the first when Makks Demidovich snapped in a bouncing puck off a Sean Gresko attempt to the target that got past Vikings’ netminder Jacob Kirstein.
Answering with a equalizer a few shifts later, Aleksander Duguay drew the visitors level as he neatly redirected in a point shot from Alessandro Raponi and eluded Sault Ste. Marie goaltender Nathan Maguire.
Moving to the middle frame, the T-Birds notched the lone tally of the session thanks to Nicholas Carlson at 19:42 when he redirected in a play put to him by Owen Murphy right off a draw won by the Soo.
In the third, the home side went up by a pair early thanks to defenceman Andrew Warne joining a rush and steering in a cross-crease back hand from Jackson Mead.
Capping off the home-ice victory late in regulation, the Soo’s Jaden van de Ven put one into the empty net from the centre red line to secure his club’s fourth straight triumph to commence the campaign.
