Thunderbirds rebound to defeat Skyhawks (5 photos added)

After being on the receiving end of a lopsided 8-3 score at the hands of the Sudbury Northern Wolves on Friday night, the Soo Thunderbirds showed some resolve and bounced back with a solid effort on Saturday as they scored a 5-3 victory over the North Bay Skyhawks at the John Rhodes Community Centre.

Facing off against last season's Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League champions, the Thunderbirds opened the scoring after Tyler Gendron scored his seventh goal of the season at 9:45.

Less than two minutes later, while enjoying a two-man advantage, the Skyhawks got the game back on even terms as Alex Ward scored his first of the season.

Not long after Ward tied the game, North Bay's Justin Roy had an opportunity to give the Skyhawks the lead but the forward was turned away on a shorthanded breakaway by Michael Maulucci in the Thunderbirds goal.

The Thunderbirds regained the lead at 17:55 when a Drew Jarrett shot found its way past Ryan Douglas in the North Bay goal.

The Skyhawks wasted no time tying the game as Adam Cook scored just 45 seconds into the second period.

Midway through the period, Kyle Rodgers gave the Thunderbirds a lead they would not relinquish as he beat Douglas to send the game into the third period with the locals leading by a goal.

At 16:43 of the third, Mark Thorburn, who missed the Sudbury game on Friday night due to prior commitments, put the Thunderbirds ahead by a pair and although Ian Carlson scored in the final minute to give the Skyhawks some hope, the Thunderbirds sealed the victory when Justin Shelleby scored into an empty net with ten seconds remaining.

Thunderbirds coach Toots Kovacs was pleased following the victory, specifically with the fact that his team was able to bounce back from their loss on Friday night.

"Things like that (Friday night's loss) happen," Kovacs said. "The sign of a good team is to regroup from something like that and come out 24 hours later and play a good game. The boys responded.

"We were led by our captain (Ryan Maunu)," Kovacs added. "He had a talk with the boys (after Friday's Loss), and they responded to him as well."

Kovacs went on to say that he was also pleased with the defensive play of his team as well as the play of Maulucci in goal.

"I thought our guys were really good defensively tonight," Kovacs said. "They cleared the front of the net very well. They took gambles when they had to, so I was very pleased with our defensive play today. Michael Maulucci made the big saves when he needed to make those saves as well."

Kovacs went on to say that he is also pleased with the play of his younger players, the likes of Nick Minardi, and Zac McNally among others, adding that they have pushed the veterans into playing better as well.

Next action for the Thunderbirds will be on Oct. 12 when they travel across the International Bridge to take on the Northern Michigan Black Bears at the Big Bear Arena in the Michigan Sault. Start time for that game will be at 7:30 p.m.

Next home action will be on Oct. 15 when the Abitibi Eskimos pay a visit to the John Rhodes Community Centre for a 7:30 p.m. start.

(All photos courtesy of Jim Egan.)