ESPANOLA, Ont. – A solid offensive effort saw the Soo Thunderbirds strike three times on the power play and once while shorthanded in soaring past the Espanola Paper Kings 7-0 Friday in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action at the Regional Recreation Complex.
The shutout for Thunderbirds’ goaltender Cameron Boville was his first in the NOJHL.
Converting on the night’s initial man advantage opportunity, Sault Ste. Marie scored midway through the first period as Aiden Atkinson worked his way into the slot and whistled a shot past Espanola netminder Jack Helkie.
Still 1-0 Thunderbirds into the middle frame, the Soo went up by a pair compliments of defenceman Brayden Gosselin who took a down-low Jayden Arnold pass in the high slot where he ripped his attempt through a maze of bodies and upstairs on Helkie.
A man-down marker in the final moments of the second put the T-Birds up 3-0 after 40 minutes as James Legler went in alone on a breakaway where he made a couple of nifty moves before lifting in a backhand into the left corner.
Up a skater to begin the third, Landon Hill made it 4-0 Soo as he pumped one upstairs at 1:32.
The Thunderbirds then chased Helkie right after that as Arnold sent a sizzler into the top left corner, which resulted in Logan Vale entering in relief.
Not done there, the Soo blew it open with two more markers to finish off the romp as Hunter Thorkilson connected in his league debut as he deposited a low spinning backhand before Shea Chornley converted on a T-Birds power play to round out the scoring by banking one in off a defender from a sharp angle in closing it out.
The victory raises the Thunderbirds’ record to 19-9-1-1, while the one-sided loss sees the Paper Kings drop to 18-12-0-1.
