Photos: Cassy Seguin
FRENCH RIVER – A solid effort at both ends of the ice played a big part in 3-1 victory by the French River Rapids versus the Soo Thunderbirds Saturday in a tightly-contested Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League affair at Noelville Arena.
A scoreless opening 20 minutes saw the clubs enter the first intermission still in search of the night’s initial tally.
In the second period, the goaltenders, in French River’s Brock Grein and Sault Ste. Marie’s Noah Metivier continued their solid efforts between the pipes to keep each team off the board through half the game.
The Thunderbirds eventually broke the deadlock at 15:12 when Jonathan Sonedecker glided in backwards and deposited an Aiden Atkinson cross-ice feed.
A two-man advantage helped the Rapids draw level a couple of shifts later as Cameron Jansa snagged a bouncing puck off the end boards and jammed it by Metivier.
Still on the power play, the home side took a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes when Nolan Masson skated through the left circle and snapped a shot that found its way in at 18:10.
Heading to the third, the Rapids held their lead deep into regulation where the Soo got their goalie out for an extra attacker with under two minutes to play.
French River used the empty net to secure the home ice triumph when Hunter Vilanez picked off a play in the neutral zone and sent his chance in from the neutral zone on a night that saw him extend a consecutive game point streak to six in succession.
The win for Grein was his first in the NOJHL in helping the Rapids improve to 3-2-0-2.
In defeat, the suddenly slumping T-Birds dropped their fourth straight outing in falling to 4-4-1-0.
