Photos: Cassy Seguin
FRENCH RIVER – After falling behind by two goals, the French River Rapids countered with five unanswered tallies to defeat the Soo Soo Thunderbirds 5-2 Friday in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest at Noelville Arena.
Sault Ste. Marie struck first in the match-up, during a power play, 14:22 in when James Legler pushed a play ahead off the stick of a French River skater, then went in and fired a feed in front that was banged in by James Elliot past Rapids’ netminder Carter Vicente.
The assist for Legler gives him points in six straight outings.
The Thunderbirds then went up by a pair with another man advantage effort that saw Elliot connect once more as he fired a shot through a screen off the glove of the goalkeeper and in at 18:07.
In the second session, French River got on the board early into it thanks to Jack Wilson’s first NOJHL goal as he snapped a shot from a sharp angle on the right side that eluded Soo goaltender Lincoln Mellenthin.
They then drew level courtesy of a team-leading 13th tally from Hunter Vilanez as he finished off a rebound via an Alexandre Dubuc attempt.
Still tied entering the third, the Rapids notched a third straight marker when Gavin Haslam collected a loose puck in the left corner then zipped a shot from along the goal line and roofed it high over Mellenthin’s shoulder at 6:57.
French River then capped off the comeback with a couple of late long-range empty net efforts from Daniil Grishachev and Jamison Gifford, who collected his initial NOJHL goal, to round out the scoring.
The victory raises the Rapids record to 7-12-1-2 and in defeat, the Thunderbirds drop to 10-11-1-1.
