Joey Payeur
Randy White’s confidence in his team’s offence is now officially well-founded.
The coach of the Fort Frances Thunderhawks has been waiting for his squad to find that extra scoring gear—a wait that ended abruptly last Tuesday night (Jan. 11) as the Thunderhawks dissected the visiting Kenora Thistles 10-5 in senior men’s ‘AAA’ hockey action.
Tom Biondich fired the first salvo of his five-point evening, scoring the game’s opening goal at 3:41 of the first period to give the home crew the early lead.
Kenora grabbed the lead by the end of the frame, however, as Matt Richards’ equalizer at 9:04 was followed by Jeff Richards’ go-ahead tally at 17:31.
The Thistles then made it 3-1 on Jeff Richards’ second goal at 2:37 of the middle from before the Thunderhawks started clicking on all cylinders.
Ross Johnson netted back-to-back goals at 4:10 and 8:12 to tie the contest before Kevin Webb made it three-straight for the locals at 10:36.
Ryan Bowen evened matters for Kenora at 11:59, but two goals in 28 seconds less than two minutes later put control of the game back in the Thunderhawks’ hands.
Biondich wired his second of the game at 13:24, followed by A.J. Tucker’s marker at 13:52 to send Fort Frances to the dressing room with a 6-4 advantage.
The T’hawks continued what would be a run of six-straight goals with another quick double strike early in the third.
Miles Kuharski lit the lamp at 4:07, with Tucker blasting home his second just 17 seconds later to give the home team a healthy 8-4 lead.
Ian Lockman piled onto the Thistles’ woes with another goal at 6:23 before Johnson banked his hat-trick goal at 12:07.
James Cain closed out the scoring for Kenora at 18:25 with the game well out of hand—in more ways than one.
A minute and one second earlier, Johnson received an emphatic slash from one of the Thistles, who suspected one of the Thunderhawks of delivering a hit from behind.
The situation erupted into a six-man brawl. When the last punch had been thrown, the trio of Johnson, Biondich, and Lockman were handed fighting majors and game misconducts as were Don Osborne, Jeff Richards, and Matt Johnson of the Thistles.
Chris Medicine earned the win between the pipes while Paul Hilhorst suffered the loss for Kenora.
The rivalry only should intensify as the two teams head towards the Allan Cup national senior men’s hockey championship coming up April 11-16—Kenora as the host team and Fort Frances as the automatic second Northwestern Ontario qualifier.
Their next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 1 at the Ice For Kids, although that game may be switched to a weekend date to allow for more players to be available from both sides.
The teams also are slated to meet for two games in Kenora on March 5-6.
But before they renew acquaintances, the Thunderhawks will host the Bottineau (N.D.) Lumberjacks for a pair of games this weekend at the ’52 Canadians Arena.
The squads will face off Saturday at 8 p.m. and again on Sunday at 1 p.m.
There will be game-day raffles and Thunderhawks’ merchandise available at both games, including T-shirts, hoodies, toques, and hats.
