Thunderbirds fall to Indians

In another installment of the battle of the twin Saults, the Soo Thunderbirds fell to the Michigan Soo Indians.

In the exhibition contest between the two junior A clubs, the North American Hockey League's Indians defeated the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey Association's Thunderbirds 8-6 at the John Rhodes Community Centre on Friday night.

Stavros Paskaris, Jason Blain and Nick Biondo scored two goals each to pace the Indians while Logan Bittle and Veli-Antti Leinonen added one each.

D.J. Jelitto and Josh Leddy scored two goals each for the Thunderbirds with singles going to Ryan MacKay and Mike MacMillan.

The Thunderbirds fell behind 8-2 in the game but rallied with four answered goals to close the contest.

Last Saturday in the Michigan Sault, the Indians hammered the Thunderbirds 7-1 at the Chi Mukwa Arena.

Next action for the Thunderbirds, 14-4-2-1 overall and 13-2-2-1 in the NOJHL, is on Wednesday when the team travels to Sudbury to play the Northern Wolves at 7:30 p.m. The team will not return home until November 28 when the North Bay Skyhawks visit town.

The Indians, which holds first place in the NAHL's Northern Division with a 13-1-5 record in league play to go with a 17-1-5 record overall, are home next Friday and Saturday to the Springfield Jr. Blues at the Chi Mukwa (Big Bear) Arena beginning at 7 p.m. both nights.