Charity hockey game delights fans

Wednesday night saw the first in what could possibly be annual event at the Soo Pee Wee Arena.

The arena, which was built in 1965, played host to a charity hockey game on Wednesday night, a game that was put together with help from current Dallas Stars goaltender Marty Turco, and a Sault native.

The game was played in effort to raise money for the arena, which was renovated in 1995 and is looking at some changes in the future.

The game also featured the unveiling of a wall honouring a number of people who have made significant contributions to the arena and the Soo Pee Wee Hockey League over the years. The wall will also see names added as needed.

The game itself featured a number of former Greyhounds and local players as well as others.

Along with Turco, who didn't play in the game as he is recovering from off-season hip surgery, a number of other former NHL players were involved in the game in one form or another.

On the ice, current Soo Greyhound assistant coach Denny Lambert, as well as current Chicago Blackhawk Mark Bell and Pittsburgh Penguin Rico Fata all suited up for the game.

Behind the bench for the game were two former Soo Greyhound coaches in Craig Hartsburg and John Vanbiesbrouck. Hartsburg coached the Greyhound team while Vanbiesbrouck coached the Thunderbird team for the game.

A number of former Greyhounds suited up for the game including the likes of Ralph Intranuovo, Jarrett Reid, Gary Roach and Sean Gagnon among others.

Local products such as Seamus Kotyk, who is currently playing in the San Jose Sharks farm system, Brendan Yarema, who is currently with the Chicago Wolves, and Tyler Hanchuk also played in the game.

A sold out crown packed the Pee Wee Arena to watch the game and every fan came away from the game with a smile as the teams provided fans with an exciting, fast-paced game that even saw a shootout to determine the winner.

As for the game itself, the teams provided the fans with early action at both ends as the Thunderbird team took an early 2-0 lead as Chris Hartsburg, who is the son of Craig and currently playing with the American Hockey League's Albany River Rats, scored two goals before the first period was half over.

Rico Fata replied for the Greyhounds shortly after Hartsburg's second goal to cut the lead in half but Yarema scored an unassisted goal to make the score 3-1 Thunderbirds.

Chris Thorburn, another local product in the game, sent the game into the first intermission with the score 3-2 in favour of the Thunderbirds.

In the second period, Pat Jarrett tied the game converting a feed from Fata in the opening minutes of the period. Just over a minute after Jarrett scored, Reid and Intranuovo scored 49 second apart to give the Thunderbirds a 5-3 lead.

Just 16 seconds after Intranuovo scored, Jaron Herriman cut the lead back down to one. Craig Kennedy then gave the Thunderbirds their two-goal lead back at 7:40.

At 9:17 John Bossio, a local product who is currently the all-time leader in points for the Central Hockey League's Odessa Jakolopes, scored shorthanded to make the score 7-4 in favour of the Thunderbirds.

Fata scored again at 12:01 to cut into the lead again but Bossio returned the favour moments later. Jeremy Rebek capped off the second period scoring as he converted to make the score 8-6 heading into the third period.

In the third, Mark Bell picked things up in an effort to tie the game and picked up three points in the period on the strength of two goals and a helper. Paul Spina scored the other Hound goal in the period.

Kennedy scored his second of the night just past the midway point of the period.

The key was late in the third period as Bell's second goal of the period came on a redirection of a Fata point shot with just 2.1 seconds left on the clock to tie the game.

The excitement of the game really began in the third period as Thunderbird goaltender Frank Novello, a Sault product currently attending American International College, made a number of spectacular saves to help the game into the shootout.

The saves included a major one on Bell midway through the third as he dove cross crease robbing Bell of a sure goal.

The shootout added to the excitement of an already entertaining game.

Rico Fata led things off for the Hounds and beat Novello, but he couldn't beat the crossbar as his shot rang off the iron. Ken Belanger started things off for the Thunderbirds and walking in and proceeded to fire a slapshot at goaltender T.J. Aceti, only to be stopped by the netminder.

Pat Jarrett was then robbed on another glove save by Novello to keep things close before Gary Roach shot wide for the Thunderbirds.

Jeff Toms put some pressure on the Thunderbird shooters as he tucked away a perfectly executed deke to put the Greyhounds ahead.

The younger Hartsburg, the next shooter for the Thunderbirds walked in and beat Aceti with a perfect shot high to the glove side to tie the shootout.

Chris Thorburn missed the next Greyhound shot and Brendan Yarema put pressure on the final Greyhound shooter by beating Aceti in the exact same spot that Hartsburg did on the previous shot.

Mark Bell, the final Greyhound shooter, proceeded to walk in and be stopped by Novello as the Thunderbirds took the inaugural Soo Pee Wee Charity game.

The fans at the game, especially the young ones, came away from the game with a smile and an appreciation for the game they had just witnessed. An entertaining game, not one person went away disappointed with the action on the ice or the cause off of it.