Photos: Rob Fera – Points North Media
SUDBURY, Ont. – A wildly entertaining Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest Thursday at Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex saw the Soo Thunderbirds and Greater Sudbury Cubs skate to a 3-3 overtime draw.
While the Cubs held the edge in shots on goal in the first period, it was the visiting Thunderbirds who benefitted off a fortuitous bounce to open the scoring 16 minutes into the contest when Wyatt Groth put a play in front that clipped off the stick of a falling Greater Sudbury forward and flipped high, before dropping in past netminder Iain Wintle.
In the middle session, the home side drew level near the midway mark of the proceedings when Grant Booth scooped up a loose puck off his own chance moments before and whipped it upstairs on Sault Ste. Marie starter Nathan Maguire.
With assists on the tally, Caden Dubreuil and Owen King extended point streaks to 10 and eight respectively.
Still tied into the third, it was the Cubs who took the lead five minutes in when Mason Walker got a favourable break of his own when his attempt was inadvertently knocked in by a sliding Soo defenceman that got under Maguire.
That sees Walker improve to a 10-game heater, giving him 24 points in total during that span.
It was then the T-Birds turn to counter with an equalizer as Adam Pszeniczny pumped in a one-timer off a Gavin Killoran set-up during a man advantage at 7:09.
Great Sudbury then went up 3-2 when captain Daks Klinkhammer sent a cross-crease pass across to Noah Kohan, who buried it at 16:37, while they were up a skater.
Battling back to force OT, and with Maguire out for an extra attacker, Aiden Atkinson knocked in a backhand while batting in front with 79 seconds remaining in regulation.
Despite some quality chances at both ends of the ice in the seven-minute extra session, including a couple of clear-cut opportunities either way, the goalkeepers held firm to aid in each team picking up a well-earned point in the tie.
With the result, the Cubs’ record goes to 37-7-3-2 overall and the Thunderbirds move to 29-14-3-2.
Each squad plays again Friday as the Soo hosts the French River Rapids while Greater Sudbury travels to Powassan to meet the Voodoos in a pair of 7 p.m. starts and on FLOHockey.tv.
