Dave Allison might be calling the local animal control department today to haul off the black cat that apparently is hiding in the Borderland Thunder dressing room.
Bad luck with injuries continued to dog the SIJHL front-runners over the weekend despite the squad picking up two wins to start a stretch of five-straight road games.
The Thunder (12-4-3-1) topped the Thunder Bay Wolves 3-1 on Saturday night before downing the Feathermen Hawks 4-1 on Sunday afternoon.
But the victories were costly as the already short-staffed Thunder lost two more players to injury.
Allison said Kevin Webb, who leads the team in goals this season with 13 and is second in points with 25, will be out at least four weeks with a damaged A-C joint in his shoulder.
The injury occurred when Webb was being checked into the boards from behind by the Hawks’ Jermain Attatise in the first period of Sunday’s game.
Meanwhile, defenceman Kurt Hogard, who has two goals and one assist in 19 games so far this season, dislocated his shoulder Saturday night after he fell into the boards.
The blueliner is expected to miss a week to 10 days, Allison said.
Webb, Jay Phillips, and Matt Johnson scored in the win over Fort William, with Steve Atkins responding for the Wolves (9-8-2-4).
Phillips, who had two points Saturday, added three assists yesterday against the Hawks.
Rob Scales, David Lloyd, Josh Baxter, and Todd Rendall hit the twine for the Thunder on Sunday while Travis Grant had the lone marker for the Hawks (7-15-1-2).
Dan Hoehne, who Allison has anointed as his number-one goalie, was solid in both games, stopping a combined 39 of 41 shots.
In other news, SIJHL commissioner Harvey Fedell announced Monday morning that the Thunder have had a loss added to their record after the forfeit of their Oct. 30 game against the Ice Dogs in Dryden.
The Thunder had won the game 3-0, but had the two points taken away after goalie Dan Hoehne, who earned the shutout, was ruled ineligible for that game the following day because his junior transfer had not been authorized yet by the SIJHL.
Fedell said Dryden still won’t get credit for the win, but all the statistics from that game will count as part of the league’s official totals.
The Thunder, who lead the second-place Ice Dogs (12-7-1) by three points, play in Dryden on Wednesday night, before finishing their road swing with games Friday and Saturday night in Thunder Bay against the KC Bulldogs (11-6-1-1).
The team returns home for action against the Bulldogs on
