Not even the darkness of a second intermission power outage could slow the pace.
In a matchup of two teams battling for positioning in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League’s West Division, the Soo Thunderbirds and Blind River Beavers traded goals throughout the night with the Beavers ultimately coming away with a 5-4 victory in overtime Friday night at the John Rhodes Community Centre.
The Beavers came back from a pair of one-goal deficits in the third period before Owen Arnold scored at 2:56 of overtime to give the visitors the victory.
Arnold cut in from the right side before beating Thunderbird goaltender Kolton Bourret high to cap off the victory for the Beavers.
The comebacks by the Beavers came after an extended second intermission due to an unplanned power outage in Sault Ste. Marie’s east end. A fire on a power pole led to much of the city’s east end losing power, including the rink.
Once power was restored, much to the delight of the teams and fans in attendance, the Beavers tied the game at three just 2:17 into the third period as Andrey Manov beat Bourret for his 10th goal of the season.
The Thunderbirds would retake the lead 2:21 later as Callum McAuley beat Beavers goaltender Noah Tegelaar to make it a 4-3 game.
Blind River’s Brendan Cooke then tied the game at four just under three minutes later, a goal that ultimately forced the extra frame and Arnold’s heroics.
After Clark Furman opened the scoring 4:33 into the opening period for Blind River, Jacob Smith of the Thunderbirds tied the game at 7:19 of the second period, only to see Blind River take a 2-1 lead when Evan Fraccaro scored a shorthanded marker at 9:06.
The Thunderbirds tied the game with a power play goal off the stick of Daniel Beaupre 22 seconds later and made it a 3-2 game when Thomas Degagne scored 60 seconds after Beaupre tied it.
Manov and Fraccaro had a goal and an assist each for Blind River while Benjamin Armatage assisted on a pair of Beavers goals.
Tegelaar stopped 27 shots for Blind River.
Bourret s topped 25 shots for the Thunderbirds.
The two teams are slated to meet again on Saturday night in the back end of a home-and-home series that shifts to Blind River.
With the win, the Beavers improve to 36-10-0-0 on the season while the Thunderbirds fall to 27-13-3-1.
The matchup between the Thunderbirds and Beavers wasn’t the only NOJHL game affected by a power outage. Friday’s game between the Hearst Lumberjacks and Powassan Voodoos in Powassan was postponed due to Ontario Hydro repairs in the area that required the power at the Powassan Sportsplex being shut off for an undetermined amount of time.