Photos: Bob Davies
SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. – The Soo Thunderbirds picked up a pair of goals, including the eventual game-winner, from Grayson Ebrahim to help propel the Soo Thunderbirds to a 5-2 victory over the Greater Sudbury Cubs Saturday in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League West Division battle at John Rhodes Community Centre.
The Thunderbirds took flight late in the first period when Colton McIntosh broke free and went in alone on Greater Sudbury goaltender Noah Metivier then snapped his chance past the blocker to make it 1-0 for the home side after 20 minutes.
Heading to the middle stanza, Sault Ste. Marie went up by a pair after Adam Kukko kept a play in the Cubs zone and backhanded it to Daniel Beaupre, who moved into the right circle and ripped it by Metivier.
Cutting into the deficit via the power play, Hudson Chitaroni notched his 15th of the season as he finished off a Ben Harris feed by putting it past a partially screened Soo netminder, Kolton Bourret.
Still 2-1 T-Birds into the third, the clubs traded markers in the opening half of the session, with the Soo’s Ebrahim pumping a turnover into the top shelf before Greater Sudbury’s Noah Kohan clicked by driving hard towards the crease and neatly tucking in a backhand.
Going back up by two with four and a half minutes remaining, the hosts clicked on the man advantage as Kaden Dundas pumped a shot on net from the point and saw Ebrahim promptly swat in the rebound.
Alex Remenda then capped off the home ice triumph by bullying his way along the side boards past the Cubs defender before flipping a backhand into the empty net.
The result sees Bourret win his seventh straight start and help the Soo move to 14-2-5-1 overall.
With the loss, Greater Sudbury fell to 18-6-0-0.
