saultsports PHOTO CREDIT: Bob Davies
SUDBURY, Ont. – Another Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League postseason series that begins Thursday night features the No. 3 seed, the Blind River Beavers, taking on the No. 6 Soo Thunderbirds, in a 7 p.m. start at the Blind River Community Centre.
No strangers to meeting each other in the playoffs, this marks the third time in the past four years the two teams will have met.
It was the Thunderbirds who came away victorious in each of their last two get togethers, taking a divisional semifinal, four games to one in 2023, while winning in four straight back in 2022.
Here’s a look at the best-of-seven match-up between the Beavers and Thunderbirds:
SEASON RECORDS:
BEAVERS: 34-14-2-2 (3rd overall)
THUNDERBIRDS: 26-23-1-2 (6th overall)
HEAD COACHES
BEAVERS: Kyle Brick
THUNDERBIRDS: Jamie Henderson
HEAD-TO-HEAD: Over the course of six meetings in 2024-25, it was Blind River who came out on top, going 4-1-1-0 overall.
Three of the games were decided by just one goal, including an overtime encounter.
In all, the Beavers outscored the Thunderbirds 21-18.
RESULTS:
Sept. 21: @ Soo (4-2 Thunderbirds)
Nov. 16: @ Blind River (3-2 Beavers)
Dec. 8: @ Blind River (5-3 Beavers)
Dec. 20: @ Soo (3-2 Beavers)
Jan. 31: @ Soo (4-3 Thunderbirds – OT)
Feb. 16: @ Blind River (6-2 Beavers)
SERIES SCHEDULE
NOJHL quarter-final
Soo Thunderbirds vs. Blind River Beavers
Best-of-seven series
Game 1: Thursday, March 20 @ Blind River 7 p.m. (Blind River Community Centre)
Game 2: Saturday, March 22 @ Blind River 7 p.m. (Blind River Community Centre)
Game 3: Sunday, March 23 @ Sault Ste. Marie 7 p.m. (John Rhodes Community Centre)
Game 4: Tuesday, March 25 @ Sault Ste. Marie 7 p.m. (John Rhodes Community Centre)
Game 5*: Thursday, March 27 @ Blind River 7 p.m. (Blind River Community Centre)
Game 6*: Saturday, March 29 @ Sault Ste. Marie 7 p.m. (John Rhodes Community Centre)
Game 7*: Tuesday, April 1 @ Blind River 7 p.m. (Blind River Community Centre)
*-if necessary
THE BEAVERS: With a combined 131 victories over the past three seasons, Kyle Brick’s Blind River squads have been a model of consistency in regular season play. … Of their current group, eight different first-year players were among those who made significant impacts in their initial campaign with the club. They included forwards Owen King; YiBin Yoo; Rylan Gibbs; defencemen A.J. Saadeh; Nicholas MacIsaac and Mattis Lafond, as well as goaltenders Connor Dunham-Fox and Bronx Bodnar. … The 2024-25 season saw them finish third in the league standings at 34-12-2-2. … Boasting the second-best record in the league on home ice, the Beavers went 20-4-1-1 at the Community Centre. … On the road they were fourth overall at 14-10-1-1. … In terms of goals-scored, the squad had the fifth-most (205) and also finished fifth in goals-against (150). … Special teams saw Blind River end up eighth on the power play (19.9%) and fifth while on the penalty kill (80.9%). … They tallied 44 times while up a skater and six when shorthanded.
FORWARDS: No player made a bigger impression to the Beavers’ roster than Owen King. … The 18-year-old Cambridge, Ont., product banged in 50 goals, in 49 appearances, to lead all NOJHL skaters. … Finishing second in league offensive production, King compiled 75 points in all. … His 12 game-winning goals established a new league record in that department. … He sat second in man advantage markers (15) and fourth in power play points (24). … King was also named the NOJHL’s BrokerLink Insurance Forward of the Month for January. … After being picked up back in mid-November, YiBin Yoo was over a point-per-game performer for the Beavers, collecting 31 in 27 outings on nine goals and 22 assists. … Second-year forward Wyatt Gibson set personal single-season highs in goals (17) and points (37) and sat second in team scoring.
DEFENCE: A trio of blueliners in their initial campaign with the team, in A.J. Saadeh; Nicholas MacIsaac and Mattis Lafond, all looked good in the Beavers’ red & white. … Saadeh led all D-men on the squad in tallies (13); total points (34) and game-winning goals (3). … Rookie rearguards MacIsaac and Lafond tied for second spot with 30 points apiece. … Lafond was named the NOJHL’s BrokerLink Insurance Rookie of the Month for February. … The nine power play assists collected by MacIsaac were the most for Blind River blueliners.
GOALTENDERS: Connor Dunham-Fox topped all NOJHL netminders in save percentage this season with a mark of .931. … He was third in goals-against average at 2.51. … Sporting record of 20-7-0-0, his victory totals were the third-highest in the league. … Tying for third in shutouts (2), Dunham-Fox was the BrokerLink Insurance Goaltender of the Month in September. … Meanwhile, rookie goaltender Bronx Bodnar was a respectable 11-7-0-2 in his initial year of Jr. A action. … He was seventh in goals-against average (3.05) and tied for fourth in terms of save percentage (.911) while registering one shutout.
THE THUNDERBIRDS: No organization in the NOJHL has won more championships (5) over the past 15 seasons, so the Thunderbirds can never be under estimated heading into the playoffs. … Finishing over .500 yet again, Sault Ste. Marie went 26-23-1-2 to finish sixth in the standings. … They were sixth in the league in both goals scored (179) and allowed (179). … In terms of special teams, the T-Birds ended up seventh on the power play (20.8%) and ninth while on the penalty kill (74.9%). … The Soo converted 41 times on the man advantage and picked up six when they were down a skater.
FORWARDS: A balanced output saw seven different forwards collect 25, or more points, on the season. … Leading that contingent was second-year man Jonathan Sonedecker. … While leading the side in scoring, Sonedecker established new personal bests in goals (22), assists (20) and points (42). … He also tied for the team-lead in game-winning goals (3). … Knotted with him in scoring was savvy set-up man James Legler. … With his team-high 33 assists, Legler also chipped in with nine markers, for 42 points. … Just behind that duo was fellow forward Callum McAuley. He registered 41 points in total. … He matched a seasonal personal-best in tallies (18) while setting new career single-season highs in assists (23) and points (41).
DEFENCE: Injuries hampered the T-Birds defensive corps with only one D-man playing over 40 games this season. … The was rookie rearguard Colin Chesnut. … He sat second in numbers from the back-end with 19 points, as he scored five times and helped out on 14 more. … Veteran Bryan Fenlon paced all Thunderbirds D-men in goals (8); assists (21); points (29); man-advantage points (10) and shorthanded points (3). … A couple of stay-at-home type blueliners in Carter Carriere and Gage Evans chipped in with 11 points each. … Carriere capped off the regular season on a four-game point streak.
GOALTENDERS: A prolific playoff performer, the Thunderbirds’ Noah Metivier boasts two NOJHL playoff MVP awards on his hockey resume, having won a pair of league titles and making two Centennial Cup appearances. … By winning 24 times in the postseason in his career, no other current league netminder can match that number. … In 37 total appearances in the playoffs, Metivier has a 24-11 win-loss record with a 2.29 goals-against average and a save percentage of .921. … He also has four shutouts in the postseason. … With a combined 97 regular season and playoff victories to his credit, that is the highest number of any goalkeeper over the past four campaigns. … His 16 total shutouts are also tops, as are his joint 8,690 minutes played. … In his first year with the Soo, Lincoln Mellenthin collected a dozen triumphs and was eighth best in average (3.05). … His win total put him seventh in the league … Mellenthin ended up going 12-9-0-0 in his time between the pipes.
UP NEXT: The winner of this match-up will move on to the NOJHL semifinals, which are slated to run between April 3-15.
BROADCASTERS
BEAVERS: Jake Roberts
THUNDERBIRDS: Anthony Valade & Dominic Turco
WHERE TO WATCH: All NOJHL playoff games can be streamed online via FLOHockey.tv.
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