Weekend games a 'wakeup call' for Thunderbirds (11 photos)

With a young lineup due to suspensions, the young players on the Soo Thunderbirds got a taste of how tough junior hockey is.

An early goal and a 4-1 deficit midway through the second period was something the Thunderbirds couldn’t recover from in a 6-4 Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League loss to the Blind River Beavers on Saturday night at the John Rhodes Community Centre.

The loss dropped the Thunderbirds record to 2-2-0-0 on the young season and gave the Beavers a sweep of the home-and-home weekend series between the two clubs, one that began with the Beavers picking up a 4-1 win in Blind River on Friday night.

“Deep down, in the end, they were hungrier than we were,” said Thunderbirds coach John Parco. “We had a few passengers this weekend, and that’s not acceptable.”

Parco called the two games against the Beavers a “wakeup call.”

“As a young team, we thought that after the start we had in the first two games that they could just come to the rink and not prepare, and practice at half speed, they need to realize that it’s hard work every day,” Parco said.

Nolan Ford had a goal and an assist for the Thunderbirds while Tyler Dunbar and Avery Rebek assisted on a pair of goals each.

Matthew Bazarin, Will Josephson, and Cooper Smyl also scored for the Thunderbirds.

Dakota Meyer got the start in goal for the Thunderbirds and stopped 18 of 24 shots but was pulled after the sixth Beavers goal. Colin Ahern entered the game but didn’t face a shot in the final 14 minutes of action.

Bryan Clahassey had a goal and three assists for the Beavers, who improve to 4-0-0-0.

Lucas Adams added a pair of goals for Blind River while Milos Todorovic, Joel Martin, and Caleb Serre also scored.

Nathan Balkwill assisted on a pair of goals for Blind River.

Beavers goaltender Jonathan Lemaire stopped 25 shots.

The Thunderbirds played Saturday’s contest minus some key players due to suspensions.

Veteran forward Nick Smith missed the game as he served the second game of a two-game suspension for the second fight in the same stoppage of play that occurred last Sunday against Espanola.

Rookie forward Tyler Savard sat for the second game of a nine-game suspension, also incurred during the Espanola game. In the game, Savard got into a fight on the same stoppage as Smith. In addition to his fighting major, Savard was given a major penalty for checking from behind and a game misconduct along with a game misconduct for being the aggressor in the fight.

Veteran defenceman missed Saturday’s game as he served a one-game suspension for an instigator penalty in Friday’s game in Blind River.

Daniel Bazarin served the first game of a three-game suspension after he was given a gross misconduct penalty in the third period of Friday’s game.

The Thunderbirds return to action on Wednesday night at home against the Rayside-Balfour Canadians. Puck drop at the John Rhodes Community Centre is set for 7 p.m.