GALLERY: Thunderbirds top Crunch for 10th straight win

Photos: Bob Davies

SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. – Michael Chaffay and Russell Oldham both tallied twice to help propel the Soo Thunderbirds to their 10th consecutive Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League victory, a 6-1 win over the Cochrane Crunch, in a match-up held at GFL Memorial Gardens.

The Thunderbirds took flight early and skated out to a two-tally lead before the first frame was half done.

Oldham began the outburst seven minutes in as he converted from in-tight with a couple of nice moves, before tucking one past the outstretched pad Cochrane netminder Michael Nickolau.

A couple of shifts later, Sault Ste. Marie added another with Chaffay converting from the left side as he whipped one upstairs.

Then late in the period, the home side clicked on the power play as Oldham scored once more as he banged in a rebound off a Youssef Chaouachi attempt.

In the middle stanza, the Thunderbirds’ converted again via the man advantage with Kelsey Ouellet taking a Brock Santa Maria pass and chipping one over the blocker of Nickolau.

Getting one back prior to the second period concluding Ryan Matthews of the Crunch wired one past Soo starter Noah Metivier from the top of the left face-off dot.

Helping complete the 10th win in succession, Chaffay snapped one in from the right circle in the final frame.

The Thunderbirds then rounded out the scoring when Dharan Cap neatly redirected a Kolby Fellinger effort from the left point.