By Sam Laskaris /
A Soo squad is once again hoping to win the Northern Ontario Junior A Hockey League crown this season.
But it won’t be the Soo Indians, the club from Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., that captured the league’s crown last season but has since folded.
Instead, it’s the Soo Thunderbirds – based in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. – that are aiming for
the league championship.
The Thunderbirds were the hottest club in their six-team league heading into the new year. In their final 10 games of ’07, the Soo side had six wins, a pair of overtime losses and two other losses in regulation time.
The Thunderbirds entered ’08 sporting a record of 15-3-6-7, good for third place in the league standings. The Soo was just two points behind the second-place 17-3-10-3 Sudbury Junior Wolves, who had played two games more than the Thunderbirds.
The North Bay Skyhawks, who had also played a pair of matches more than the Soo, were atop the standings with an 18-5-7-3 mark.
Thunderbirds’ director of hockey operations Al Jones said the December surge can be attributed to the fact the team continued to play its usual solid defence but also started to bury some more of its offensive chances.
Jones was especially pleased with the recent play of forwards Nick Minardi and Trevor McNutt.
“They’ve been our two best forwards in the last six games,” he said. “They struggled early on but they’re starting to find the net now.”
Minardi was producing at almost a point-per-game clip, with 30 points (16 goals, 14 assists) in 31 matches.
Only Matt Amadio had more points for the Thunderbirds this season, 32 points (15 goals, 17 assists) in 31 matches.
McNutt moved up to fourth in team scoring with 25 points (eight goals, seven assists) in 31 contests.
The Thunderbirds also have arguably the best 1-2 punch in the league between the pipes in Ryan Dube and Travis O’Brien.
Dube, a 19-year-old, had a league-leading 2.45 goals-against average and an 8-3-5 record.
O’Brien, who is 20, also had an impressive 2.77 GAA and a 9-5-1 mark.
The pair had been alternating starts all season. But O’Brien was expected to get all of the team’s starts early in the New Year as Dube injured his right knee during the club’s annual alumni match during the holidays.
Jones was comforted by the fact Dube is expected to return to the Thunderbirds’ lineup soon. But the same cannot be said for defenceman Shaun Seimers, who was expected to be the Soo’s top blueliner this season.
Seimers, acquired in an off-season trade with the Blind River Beavers, played in the Soo’s first nine matches this season. But a knee injury has kept him on the sidelines since.
“He’s had trouble getting a proper diagnosis,” Jones said. “We don’t know if he’ll be back this year.”
Besides the team’s improved play of late, Jones is also pleased with the high number of local players on the Thunderbirds’ roster.
Seventeen of the 22 players on the Soo lineup are from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. The other five are all from neighbouring Michigan.
“We’re very proud of that,” Jones said, adding team officials decided four years ago to primarily have a roster with local players.
But the Thunderbirds could be adding at least one more American player this season.
“Before the [trade] deadline [of Jan. 10] we’d like to get one more sniper or goal-scorer,” said Jones, adding such a player probably wouldn’t come from within the league but instead from a U.S.-based junior circuit. |