Thunder draw first blood

Disputed calls and chippy play during last night’s playoff opener overshadowed the fact the Borderland Thunder remain Goliath to the Thunder Bay KC Bulldogs’ David after a 7-1 drubbing at the Ice for Kids Arena.
The Thunder hold a 1-0 lead in their best-of-seven Superior International Junior Hockey League semi-final series, with Game 2 going here tonight at 8:30.
“It was pretty ugly. I thought it would be a much better game,” Thunder head coach Wayne Strachan said. “It was kind of slow, lots of penalties. There just wasn’t much momentum to the game.
“I thought it might have been a lot more intense and a lot closer,” he added.
Bulldogs head coach Brian Vescio simply was not impressed with the officiating crew headed by local ref Bill Daley, who handed out 164 minutes in penalties—including 105 against the Thunder Bay team.
“We didn’t play well and didn’t deserve to win,” he said. “[But] it was dictated by outside sources. If I was a fan, I wouldn’t come back to the game.”
The Thunder had the early jump right from the end of the national anthem. Matt Johnson tallied first by tipping a David Lloyd point shot to give the home team a 1-0 lead less than five minutes into the game.
But the Bulldogs’ bench argued the puck hit the top part of the mesh over the glass before the shot and the whistle should have been blown.
The goal stood, and then Dallas Mosbeck knocked one past Bulldog goalie Keith Anderson 32 seconds later.
With six minutes to go in the first, defenceman Jay Philips glided in from his own blueline to deke out three defenders and beat Anderson to make it 3-0 after 20 minutes.
Midway through the second, Chad Baldwin one-timed a sharp cross-ice feed from Johnson on the power play. Then the Thunder struck again very quickly—this time 14 seconds later—as Kevin Webb found the puck at Anderson’s doorstep.
Baldwin got his second of the night on a 5-on-3 Thunder power play at 11:46 of the third.
Derek Hossana beat Thunder goalie Rob Hrabec for the Bulldogs’ lone goal with two minutes to play. Ryan Hilfer added one more for the Thunder to round out the scoring.
The Thunder outshot the Bulldogs 61-34 and cruised after taking the early lead.
“It’s important to set the tone in the first game. Whether or not our intent was to blow them out, we got some breaks and capitalized on them,” said Strachan,
It was the Bulldogs’ first-period collapse which cost them the game, said Vescio.
“I think that’s what happened. They scored [their second goal] after that [disputed call] and that was it,” said the exasperated coach, who mockingly waved a white towel at the officiating crew late in the game.
Strachan added his team will be ready if rough play continues tonight.
“We have to stand up for ourselves. We’re not going to back down. We’re here to win this series. If that’s the way it goes, I think it favours us,” he said.
Vescio said earning a split is still possible. “We have to be in this from the start. We can’t get frustrated and [must] keep our focus throughout the game,” he noted.
Thunder defenceman Troy Arnold did not play last night due to the ’flu and is questionable for tonight’s game.
Games 3 and 4 go next Wednesday and Thursday at the Fort William Gardens.
Meanwhile, Game 1 of the other SIJHL semi-final between the second-place Feathermen Hawks and third-place Dryden Ice Dogs goes tonight at the Fort William First Nations arena.