Thunderbirds erupt over Eskimos (Updated with Photos)

The Soo Thunderbirds entered action on Friday night against the Abitibi Eskimos as the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League's lowest scoring team having scored 14 goals through five games.

With that in mind, the Birds were in tough facing an Eskimos team that was in top spot in the NOJHL's Eastern Division with a 4-1 record.

The Birds entered the game with four new names on their roster as Derek MacKay, Mike Quesnele, Chris Towell and Justin Shellby all made their first appearances as members of the Thunderbirds.

Quesnele dressed as a call-up from the Soo North Stars, while the other three all signed with the Birds.

A strong performance out of all three lines, especially the line of Matt Dias, MacKay and Ryan Maunu who combined for 12 points on the night, as the Thunderbirds rolled to a 9-3 victory over the Eskimos at the John Rhodes Community Centre. The game got off to a quick start as Luc Champagne of Abitibi broke into the Soo zone 32 seconds in, shifted in front of the net, had the puck slide off of his stick and in behind Birds netminder Mike Maulucci to give the Eskimos the early lead.

The lead was short lived as 15 seconds later, Ryan Maunu opened the Soo scoring by knocking in a rebound off a shot from MacKay to tie the game at 1-1, just 47 seconds into the game.

Adam Kauppi gave the Thunderbirds a 2-1 lead when he beat Abitibi starter Steve Hamel at 1:38. MacKay gave the locals a 3-1 lead at 12:17 when he took a breakaway pass at the Eskimos blueline and broke in alone on Hamel, beating the Abitibi netminder.

Maunu picked up his second goal of the period late when he beat Hamel, chasing the netminder from the game.

A goaltending change for the second period, when Matt Kernick came in to relieve Hamel in the Abitibi goal was little help. Matt Dias gave the locals a 5-1 lead at 2:22, and then Chris Towell, a recent acquisition by the Thunderbirds from Northern Michigan, scored at 4:03 then again at 12:25 to increase the lead to 7-1.

A Jessy Lebel goal at 14:42 cut the lead to 7-2 but Matt Caria scored at 15:34 to cap off the second period scoring.

The teams traded goals in the third period as Kyle Jones scored for the Thunderbirds exactly one minute into the period, then Kurtis Camirand capped off the scoring at 1:53 to make the final 9-3 for the Thunderbirds.

MacKay, who was playing in his first game with the Thunderbirds this season after announcing that he would be playing with the NOJHL team while completing his studies at Wayne State University in Detroit, had a strong opening game scoring once and setting up four more goals in the win.

His linemates in Dias and Maunu also had solid nights. Dias had a goal and an assist while Maunu added two goals and two assists in the win.

Thunderbirds coach Zoltan Kovacs said following the win that he was very pleased with the effort his club put out in the win adding that the line of Dias, MacKay and Maunu, as well as the lines of Caria, Towell and Pat Keating and Kauppi, Billy Griffore and Mark Thorburn were all strong in the win.

"From the goaltender out I thought we played really well," Kovacs said. "The MacKay, Dias, Maunu line played well and so did Caria's line with Keating and Towell. Kauppi, Griffore and Thorburn did the job defensively. The only way our defencemen can step up is if our forwards come back and that line did all night."

Kovacs did say that one problem during the game was the fact that the coaching staff had to remind their forwards at times about their defensive assignments.

"At times we forgot the defensive part of the game," Kovacs stated. "We (the coaching staff) had to remind them at times that it's not over yet."

With their record now standing at 4-2, the Thunderbirds will continue their homestand with a game Sunday evening against the Sudbury Northern Wolves. Game time is 6 p.m. at the John Rhodes Community Centre.

All Phots courtesy of Jim Egan.

CURRENTLY ADDING PHOTOS.