Photos: Helene Rancourt
BLIND RIVER, Ont. – The surging Soo Thunderbirds picked up their 10th straight Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League victory Tuesday as they rode the shutout goaltending of Landon Miller to blank the Blind River Beavers 3-0 at the Blind River Community Centre.
Continuing his solid start to his brief tenure in the NOJHL, recently acquired Sault Ste. Marie defenceman Ranon Joseph collected the puck on the side boards and backpedaled to mid-ice, just inside the blueline, and sent a shot on net that took a dip en route and got by Blind River starter Gavin Disano, short side, for his sixth point early into his third league outing.
Staying 1-0 Thunderbirds deep into the second period, the visitors went to work on the power play late in the session and saw Brock Santa Maria send a crisp cross-ice pass over to Jackson Truchan who quickly whipped in a one-timer that Disano had little chance on at 17:26.
Moving to the final frame, the Soo added some insurance while skating four aside when Tyler Boudreau fed Justin Mauro behind the net, who quickly darted out and tucked one into the open corner to round out the night’s scoring.
Making his first start since back on November 23, Miller was flawless to pick up his second shutout of the season and 10th win.
The result sees the Soo improve to 24-9-2-1 as their winning streak has now reached double digits
With the loss, the Beavers dropped to 22-9-2-2 overall.
The two teams are right back at Wednesday evening to complete a home-and-home in a 7 p.m. start at John Rhodes Community Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
