Forget two front teeth or an X-Box—all the Borderland Thunder wanted for Christmas was four points. And if that meant opening their present early, so be it.
The Thunder (9-13-1-1) went into their holiday break making a joyful noise as they captured an important pair of victories against the K&A Variety Golden Hawks (2-25-2) here, winning 6-5 on Friday night and then 8-3 on Saturday afternoon.
“It’s important when you’ve got 15 new guys on your roster that you have good work habits, so you get more used to each other more quickly,” said Thunder head coach Dave Allison, whose team snapped a five-game losing streak while extending the Hawks’ futility record to 12-straight defeats.
“If we had come into this weekend overconfident, it would have been a sign of immaturity on our part,” Allison noted. “We’ve got to get something started now.”
Had the last-place Hawks prevailed in both games here, the fourth-place Thunder’s lead over K&A for the final SIJHL playoff spot would have shrunk from 10 to six points.
Instead, with the Thunder now a perfect 6-0 against the Hawks so far this season, that lead has now been stretched to 14 points.
Borderland also holds five games in hand on the Hawks and barring a major collapse by the Thunder—a berth in the post-season seems much more of a certainty now.
The Thunder reached the halfway point of the regular season a far cry from their 15-4-4-1 mark of a year ago after 24 games. But despite having their feet held to the fire both nights by the never-say-die Hawks, Borderland held firm and perhaps showed a glimpse of the character they’ll need to exhibit to turn things around.
Friday’s game was a tale of two contests, with Borderland jumping out to a 5-1 lead before the second period was four minutes old—only to be nearly overrun by a one-man army.
Justin Green scored both his first goal of the season—and his first in a Thunder uniform—at 5:17 of the first when he collected his own rebound and rocketed a blast top shelf on Hawks’ goalie Carter Hutton.
Nate Weossner made it 2-0 at 11:51, but a fluke goal by Jesse Smith that bounced off his skate and in past Thunder goalie Dan Hoehne slashed the lead in half 46 seconds later.
Borderland dominated the first part of the middle frame, with Rob Scales (his second of the year and first in 17 games), Weossner (his second of the night), and Andrew Dault (fourth of the season) scoring in a 43-second span to make it a four-goal cushion.
Then along came Hawks’ forward Nathan Hookimaw.
He proceeded to score a natural hat trick before the end of the period (including two goals on the power play), then netted a fourth tally at 6:52 of the third to draw K&A even and leave the sparse crowd on hand in stunned silence.
But the roar returned to the home rink at 8:58 after K&A’s David Fleurent took an ill-advised tripping penalty. Kurt Hogard moved in from the right point to drill a shot past a screened Hutton for his seventh of the year to give the Thunder the victory.
< *c>Another big lead
Saturday afternoon’s game, which marked the return of Thunder forward Ian Lockman from a three-game suspension for hitting from behind, took a similar tone to Friday night’s affair.
The Thunder again built a 5-1 lead before having to steel themselves in the face of another Hawks’ charge.
Sean Councillor, who had his one-game suspension dropped the previous night after league executives mistakenly tagged him for having been in a third fight this season, scored his first of the campaign to open the scoring at 4:22 of the first.
David Gooch, who had been stripped of the puck for Hookimaw’s tying goal the previous evening, made up for his error by unloading a cannon past Hawks’ starter and former Thunder goalie Ryan Crane at 17:31 to make it 2-0.
Atikokan native Stephen MacLeod got in on the action at the 54-second mark of the middle period for his first with the Thunder since joining the team two weeks ago.
MacLeod made a beautiful rush down the left wing and unleashed a bullet from the top of the circle that beat Crane to the far side.
Brent Irwin converted a pass from Smith at the four-minute mark on the power play to put the Hawks on the board, but Weossner followed that up with his 12th of the season at 15:14 to boost the lead up to 4-1.
The cheery atmosphere of the festive season was turned on its ear at the 17:17 mark of the second when Lockman and former Thunder and Muskie player Jared Catholique-Bruyere duked it out in what turned out to be the first of four fights in the game’s final 23 minutes.
Gooch added his second of the afternoon, and fifth of the season, at 1:02 of the third, but Irwin (at 3:16) and Hookimaw (only 1:44 later) had K&A on the comeback trail again at 5-3.
Only 13 seconds after Hookimaw’s tally, though, Eric Schultz posted his fifth of the campaign to end the Hawks’ momentum on a goal which came just as the Thunder’s Cale David and Irwin dropped the gloves near centre ice.
Councillor added his second of the game on the power play at 11:26 before Aaron Boyer notched his 10th of the year 14 seconds later to cap the scoring.
Hoehne improved to 2-1 between the pipes for the Thunder since returning from a five-week layoff due to post-concussion syndrome.
The SIJHL will shut down for the holidays, with the Thunder returning to action Jan. 3-4 here against the third-place Thunder Bay KC Bulldogs (10-12-2-2), who lead Borderland by four points but with the Thunder holding two games in hand.
The Fort William North Stars—the third-ranked team in the country according to the Canadian Junior ‘A’ Hockey League and currently riding a 12-game winning streak—lead the league with a 22-4-1 record, with the Dryden Ice Dogs (19-3-4-2) just a point behind in second.
In related news, the Thunder announced last Thursday the release of goalie Thomas Dombrowski and the trade of forward Colten Steinhoff to the Hawks in exchange for cash.
Dombrowski, who was brought in from the North Bay Skyhawks four weeks ago, went 0-3 for the Thunder with a 4.22 goals against average and a .890 save percentage.
Mark Buist of the Fort Frances Midget ‘AA’ Canadians, who stopped all three shots he faced in seven minutes of action during his lone appearance with the Thunder this season, will back up Hoehne for now, though Allison said the search would continue for a more veteran goalie.
Steinhoff—acquired Nov. 17 from Fort William in exchange for cash—had one goal and 20 penalty minutes in five games with the Thunder.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
