Callum McAuley connected with 52 seconds remaining in overtime to lift the Soo Thunderbirds to a 2-1 triumph over the Soo Eagles Friday night in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest in front of nearly 1,000 spectators at Pullar Stadium.
The hometown Eagles opened the scoring on the power play as Benjamin Pouliot jammed in a puck that Thunderbirds’ netminder Kolton Bourret could not contain off a Gabriel Fisher point shot at 8:54 of the first period.
Heading to the second session, the teams traded some quality chances, but neither side converted.
In the third the Thunderbirds finally solved Eagles starter Marino Ramirez nearly six minutes in when Camden Cowan worked a give-and-go with Thomas Degagne before turning and firing a shot upstairs. The tightly-contested affair remained level through the remainder of regulation, to send it to extra time.
The visitors pulled out the win when the Thunderbirds’ Quinn Myles made a couple of nice spin moves in the Eagles zone then fired a crisp feed across to McAuley who moved in and fired the winner up high past a diving Ramirez.
With the victory in the hard-played affair, the T-Birds improved to 20-9-0-1 overall while the Eagles moved to 20-13-1-1 on the campaign.
