Thunderbirds win another DHC
For the second time in the past four seasons, Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League have won the Dudley-Hewitt Cup as Central Canada champions.
An early third-period goal by veteran forward Matt Pinder lifted the Thunderbirds past the host Fort Frances Lakers of the Superior International Jr. Hockey League 3-2 in Saturday’s title tilt.
With the victory, the T-Birds advance to the RBC Cup, all-Canadian championships to be held May 9-17 in Portage la Prairie, Man.
The ever-reliable Nic Tassone scored the other two goals and rookie goalie Mario Culina made 29 saves for the NOJHL and DHC champions from the Soo.
PHOTO: Soo Thunderbirds of the NOJHL are the 2015 Dudley-Hewitt Cup, Central Canada champions. (Photo by Tim Bates.)
Once again, the class of the NOJ showed how balanced team play and a really strong, mobile back-end prevails at the highest levels. What a display. Congrats to the coaching staff/GM. Good luck to them at the RBC. It is entirely possible for them to go all the way.
I honestly didn’t think this team was as good as last years,but they seem to be. I know they didn’t win the league last year but they seemed better. Good luck at the RBC birds maybe you can bring it home to the north.
Some scouts I know in the Ottawa area unanimously affirm the NOJ took a huge step forward in 2014/15. I was at the Central Canada Challenge in Toronto, and several there were doing double-takes at the talent of the team Coach Smith put on the ice. A couple of different bounces in the third period in the semi-final and they could have won that tournament as well, to add to their cache! 2015/16 will be very interesting indeed.