Twin Soo border alert
And so it begins. And so it will be written. The latest chapter in the ongoing saga involving the cross-border foes from Sault Ste. Marie will turn pages beginning tonight.
Soo Thunderbirds will play host to the Soo Eagles tonight at John Rhodes Community Centre in Game 1 of the best-of-seven, Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League West Division semi-final.
The series has projections of being more than about injuries, bruised egos and coaching staffs with different styles and methods.
It is, in this latest version of Twin Soo junior hockey passion, about two evenly-matched teams representing towns separated by two miles of International Bridge coupled with the flow of the St. Mary’s River.
Who loves you, baby? Not these guys.
This isn’t the Ontario Hockey League. This is the NOJHL, a rung below the OHL.
But this is good hockey. This is a good league, one that helped develop forward Boris Katchouk into an OHL scoring star with the Soo Greyhounds and National Hockey League draft pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
This particular verse of good hockey involves two teams who have been to war before. They battled all during the regular season and the good fight figures to continue into this playoff round.
There are players on both teams who are, simply put, cool to watch because of the way they play and the results that they induce.
There is the scoring touch of Nick Smith of the Thunderbirds. This is a smaller kid who plays in traffic, comes away with the puck and puts it into the net.
There is the heart and soul and the relentless puck pursuit and determination of Jake Palmerio of the Eagles. This is another smaller kid who makes you remember that size is just a word that scouts of limited vocabulary are prone to use.
But really, all players who suit up are worthy of watching. If they weren’t, they would not be at this level.
There are bragging rights on the line as the Twin Soo opposites get set to take to the ice.
A year ago, in classic underdog fashion, the fourth-place Eagles swept the first-place Thunderbirds in four stunning games.
What happened last year stays where it is, though.
This is new, even if it really isn’t.
This should be fun, even as a border battle.