ESPANOLA, Ont. – After falling behind early, the Espanola Paper Kings came back to edge the Soo Thunderbirds 4-3 in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action Friday at the Regional Recreation Complex.
The Thunderbirds struck first on the night when Jaden van de Ven moved in from the point and pumped a shot high over the glove of Paper Kings’ netminder Logan Vale, 3:46 in.
Devin Jones-McDonald put the visitors up by a pair as he ran a point streak to seven by powering in hard and depositing his 18th of the campaign.
Espanola got one back with five minutes remaining in the frame when Carter Drigo let a shot go that was stopped by Sault Ste. Marie starter
Cameron Boville, but the puck ricocheted off the skate of a defender and bounced in.
Action in the middle frame saw the Paper Kings respond twice late in the session to take a 3-2 lead into the intermission.
On the tying tally, Drigo quickly pumped in a sharp cross-ice feed from Owen Smith for hi 20th at 16:29 before Graydon connected at even strength 38 seconds later as he weaved through traffic before lifting in a short-side effort on Boville.
Talented NOJHL rookie Smith then made it 4-2 Espanola in the opening minute of the third as he made a nice move down-low and came out from behind the net and jammed in a chance that was eventually deemed by the officials to have crossed the goal line.
Getting back to within one at 11:18, Adam Pszeniczny was set-up by Gavin Killoran while the Soo was up a skater and converted from in close on Vale during a man advantage.
The Soo then looked for an equalizer in the late going with their goalkeeper out for an extra skater, but the Paper Kings held firm defensively to secure the victory.
With the outcome, Espanola improves to 22-16-1-3 while in defeat the T-Birds slip to 23-14-2-2.
