Thunderbirds top Gold Miners 3-1

NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE

NOJHL NETWORK MEDIA UPDATE

Release Date: Friday, Nov. 25, 2016

Thunderbirds top Gold Miners 3-1

SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. – The Soo Thunderbirds got a goal and an assist from Nick Smith to help them defeat the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners 3-1 Friday evening in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League play at Essar Centre.

Action in the opening 20 minutes saw Sault Ste. Marie out shoot Kirkland Lake 9-6, but the frame finished scoreless.

The Thunderbirds began the night’s scoring with under five minutes to go in the middle stanza as Smith set-up Kaiden McDonald for his third tally of the season.

The Soo upped their lead to 2-0 at 4:50 of the third thanks to Zach Senecal’s 14th marker in 2016-17.

The Gold Miners pulled to within one midway through the final period as William Mizuik beat T-Birds starter Brandon Gordon to collect his 11th as a member of the Gold Miners.

Kirkland Lake pulled their starter, Victor-Olivier Courchesne, in the late going in an effort to tie it and force overtime, but Gordon and Jake Behse combined to feed Smith for some insurance with 68 seconds left to round out the scoring.

Gordon made 15 stops to post the win for the Thunderbirds while Courchesne faced 27 shots in defeat for the Gold Miners.