Eagles win border battle with Thunderbirds
Submitted By Brad Coccimiglio on Sunday, February 12, 2012
SAULT STE. MARIE, MI. – A pair of late third-period goals sank the Soo Thunderbirds on Friday night.
The Thunderbirds dropped a 5-3 decision to the Soo (Mi.) Eagles at Pullar Stadium in the Michigan Sault in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action. The Eagles scored two goals in the final 90 seconds of the contest for the win.
“I think once (Eagles coach) Bruno (Bragagnolo) and I have a chance to look at the video, I think we’d agree there were far too many odd-man rushes,” said Thunderbirds coach Preston Mizzi. “Those are things that will need to be corrected come playoff time. I guess 5-3 isn’t really that high of a score but I don’t expect our games to be that high scoring come playoff time. Both teams will tighten up and the mistakes will lessen
Said Bragagnolo: “This all goes back to a typical T-birds/Eagles game. You never know who’s going to win until the last second most of the time. It was a great game on both ends. Both teams played hard and both goalies played well.”
Matthew Wiggemansen scored a pair of goals to lead the Eagles while Brian Depp had three assists in the win. Tyler Jones, Connor Lyons and Dallas McLaughlin also scored in the win.
Eagles goaltender Luis Puig stopped 33 shots.
James Delayer and Micky Sartoretto had a goal and an assist each in the win while Corey Jackson also scored in the loss. Goaltender John Kleinhans stopped 43 shots.
The Thunderbirds opened the hockey game playing a 1-3-1 trap but changed their plan of attack in the first period.
“I felt we weren’t being aggressive enough,” said Mizzi. “We were setting it up too often. It was effective in that they were icing the puck but we weren’t creating anything. I told them in the first intermission that you don’t always have to fall back. When they have the puck and you’re a stick-length away, you (force). It turned into a few scoring chances and a few goals in the second period.”
The Thunderbirds played the game without the services of five veterans in the loss. Matt Amadio was serving the first of a four game suspension after an incident with the referees in Blind River last weekend while Joey Couture, Jake Wright, Greg Sartoretto and Dylan Connolly were all out with various injuries.
The game wasn’t without a bit of extra controversy as Mizzi found his way onto the ice following the loss and was restrained by two of his own players as he gave referees Dan Crimm and Charlie Gimpel an earful.
The incident earned Mizzi a misconduct following the game. No word on whether Mizzi, or the Thunderbirds will face any supplementary discipline from the incident.
While the Eagles host the Sudbury Cubs on Saturday night, the Thunderbirds now enjoy some time off. The Thunderbirds don’t play again until they host the Eagles in an afternoon contest at the Essar Centre on Feb. 18.
