Thunderbirds dust off Rapids for 10th win of season

Four players netted their first goals of the season to help the Soo Thunderbirds to a 6-2 win over the French River Rapids Saturday in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action at John Rhodes Community Centre.

Sault Ste. Marie needed less than two minutes to gain the edge on French River when James Legler sent a back pass to defenceman Andrew Thompson who snapped a shot off the post and in from the left circle for his initial NOJHL tally.

Jacob Smith then made it 2-0 at 4:46 as he clicked for a sixth straight outing by finishing a rebound during a man advantage. Continually applying the pressure throughout the period, the Soo notched another late in the session with Callum McAuley stuffing in a wrap-around.

Moving to the middle stanza, the T-Birds added to their cushion early on as Colin McIntosh cut wide in the French River end and roofed a shot from a sharp angle, for his first league goal. A couple of minutes later Matthew Shulist tucked the puck under the pad of Thunderbirds’ netminder Mavrick Fletcher on a two-on-one to give the Rapids some life.

But Soo rookie defenceman Candon O’Neill joined a play up ice while shorthanded and finished off an Emile Tremblay feed with a blocker side shot for his opening NOJHL goal. French River countered midway through the night thanks to Kai Clayton, who spun and finished off a scramble.

The surging Smith then added another in the third with a crafty backhand that saw him score for the eighth time in his past six games in wrapping up the result.

With the win, the Thunderbirds improved to 10-3-2-1 overall, while in defeat, the Rapids dropped to 2-14-0-0.