Birds, Eagles home & home
Intense and indelible, the Twin Soo hockey rivalry will be revisited when the Soo Thunderbirds and Soo Eagles meet in a home-and-home set on Friday and Saturday.
The Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League foes will face off on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Essar Centre and Saturday at 7 p.m. at Pullar Stadium.
The two-time reigning champion Thunderbirds are in familiar territory atop the West Division standings with 53 points from a record of 25-8-1.
Having started the 2017 portion of the regular season with a 3-2 road win over the Blind River Beavers on Wednesday, the Michigan-based Eagles have edged back to the .500 mark with an 18-18-2 record, which is good for 38 points and fourth place in the West Division.
Home ice has decided all seven games between the two teams thus far this season with the Thunderbirds holding a 4-3 edge in victories over the Eagles.
TOP SCORERS
Matt Caruso leads the Thunderbirds in scoring with 18 goals, 23 assists, 41 points followed by fellow forwards Zach Senecal at 18-11-29, Mark Tassone at 12-15-27, Ryan Waterhouse at 11-13-24 and Austin Kozluk at 13-10-23.
Chris Murphy and Brad Hofelich top the Eagles point parade with 18-26-44 and 17-27-44 totals respectively followed by Jake Saxton at 13-25-38, Jake Palmerio at 15-16-31 and William Casey at 10-21-31.
Of note, Eagles defenseman Nick Trecroce has yet to score a goal but leads all Michigan Soo blue-liners with 20 assists.
NO. 1 GOALIES
Brandon Gordon of the Thunderbirds has a record of 19-7-0 to go with a 2.57 goals against average and .900 save percentage.
Kade Phipps of the Eagles has an 11-6-0 record, 2.76 goals against average and .918 save percentage.
PHOTO: Thunderbirds goalie Brandon Gordon. (Photo by Jim Egan.)