SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. – A well-played, tight-checking Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League affair Saturday at John Rhodes Community Centre saw the Soo Thunderbirds and Greater Sudbury Cubs skate to a hard-fought 1-1 overtime draw.
After a scoreless opening 20 minutes, Sault Ste. Marie broke the ice midway through the proceedings while shorthanded when Aiden Atkinson picked off a play at his own blueline then darted into the Greater Sudbury zone on a break, where he was denied by netminder Mateo Beites, but Deven Jones-McDonald jumped in and had a couple of in-close cracks before eventually jamming the puck in.
The marker was the eighth of the season for Jones-McDonald, who also extended a point streak to four in succession.
Remaining 1-0 Thunderbirds into the third period, the Cubs finally solved Soo starter Ryan Hicks with 9:19 left in regulation when Nolan Newton pumped in the rebound off a Spencer Horgan attempt from the right point.
With neither side converting through the rest of regulation, off to OT they went.
Skating three aside there, both rookie netminders in Hicks and Beites did their parts respectively to see the teams finish with the first tie of the season in the NOJHL.
With the outcome, the T-Birds record goes to 8-3-1-1 while the Cubs move to 8-5-1-0.
