The chase to catch the Soo Thunderbirds atop the NOJHL (Northern Ontario Junior "A" Hockey League) West Division standings just became a lot tougher for the Rayside-Balfour Canadians.
Entering their head-to-head matchup Thursday night in Chelmsford, the Canadians trailed the T-Birds by four points, before anxiously awaiting a two-game home-and-home set that would wrap up Friday night in the Lock City.
If everything went well, Rayside-Balfour could emerge Saturday morning dead even with the Saultites. Though they had their chances, everything did not go exactly as planned for the Canadians.
Trailing 2-1 entering the third period, the Thunderbirds knotted things at 2-2 early in the final frame, courtesy of Nick Smith's second goal of the game. They secured the win when Noah Solinger broke the tie with under seven minutes to play, helping lift the visitors to a 5-3 win.
Rayside got on the board first, as James White pulled the trigger later, before Smith and Noah Serre traded tallies in the middle stanza. Sault Ste Marie would add some insurance to their 3-2 lead, with Kaiden MacDonald bulging the twine at 18:03.
Serre registered his second of the game with 19 seconds to play, before Smith rounded out his hat-trick exactly ten seconds later. Brandon Gordon turned aside 31 of the 34 shots he faced in picking up the win, with Brayden Lachance tagged with the loss despite a 39-save effort.
The back and forth pattern remained true to form the next evening in the Sault, as the Thunderbirds grabbed a 2-1 advantage after twenty minutes of play. Goals from Braden Robbins and Brendan Miller were sandwiched around a counter-strike from James White; the Canadians outshot 15-9 out of the gate.
They quickly evened matters as Serre picked up his third in two games, all on the power play, 23 seconds into period two. However, the Sault crew bounced back to register a key tie-breaking goal in a 2-2 affair, this time off the stick of Lucas Theriault at the 16:15 mark of the second.
The score remained unchanged through the final 20, as the Thunderbirds secured a 3-2 win, backstopped by a 31 save performance from Eric Schuch.
The Thunderbirds, for their part, kept rolling on Saturday, recording their ninth straight win of 3-1 over the Soo Eagles. The Canadian Sault squad now enjoy a nine-point lead over the Blind River Beavers, and ten over coach Steve Lauzon and the Canadians.
Rayside-Balfour is gearing up for their second back-to-back straight home and home series as they welcome the Elliot Lake Wildcats on Thursday at 7 p.m. and travelling to the Centennial Arena in Elliot Lake for a rematch at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.
The Canadians close out their 2017 schedule with a road game exactly one week later, visiting the Soo Eagles at Pullar Stadium on Dec. 22.
