THUNDER BAY – A pair of second period goals, under a minute apart, near the midway mark of the contest, helped send the Thunder Bay under-18 Kings on their way to an eventual 6-2 triumph over their U-16 Kings’ counterparts Wednesday evening in SIJHL Guest Team exhibition action at the Fort William Gardens.
A promising start for the U-16s saw them score just 21 seconds in to open the night’s scoring as Brady Butvin collected a turnover in the U-18 zone then spun back towards the net and fired a low shot from the left side off the post and in for an unassisted effort.
Countering with the equalizer, the elder Kings drew level midway through the first Jack Pineau put a pass back to Brodie McLeod at the left point, who in turn saucered a feed across that Johnny McCollum one-timed that flew into the back of the net.
Despite a 12-4 edge in shots in the opening period, the two teams hit the intermission knotted at one.
In the second stanza, the under-18 side had a good chance to go in front in the late stages of an early power play when Matthew Beazley skated into a blast from the point before it was skillfully snagged by the glove of U-16 goaltender Kolton Bourret.
Coming right back, the U-16s had a quality opportunity of their own to regain lead as Easton Glousher darted down the left wing and let a high wrister go that eluded U-18 netminder Keenan Marks, but rang off the iron and bounced back into play.
Back and forth they went with the U-18s getting the go ahead marker eight minutes in as McLeod picked up his second assist of the night as his cross-crease pass from the left boards went right to Colton Crysler parked in front, who converted from close range. Keagan Jones also added a helper on the play.
Coming right back on an odd-man rush, they got another on the next shift when Zach Biniaris dropped one back for Josh Lehto in the right circle where he proceeded to upstairs, short side, to make it 3-1 with half a game to play.
They then added to their cushion during a late power play as Mike Sheare did some crafty stick work in the slot before burying a shot to put the U-18s up 4-1 after 40 minutes.
The under-16 Kings had another tremendous chance right off the draw to begin the third, but were denied as an attempt towards the open side was kept out by Marks.
Picking up a power play after that, they did eventually get their second of the evening as Glousher made a perfect back-door pass right to an open Kaden Goodwin, who was left with a tap in at 1:21.
A nice end-to-end rush up the ice by defenceman Jack Cook added some insurance for the winning side as he powered his way up the right side before moving in a snapping a shot off the left post and in with five and a half minutes remaining to help secure the decision.
Jones then finished off a goal-mouth scramble from in close, during a man advantage, as he stuffed one in after a couple of whacks at it with help from Lehto and McCollum.
Shots on goal on the night were listed as 34-24 in the U-18s favour with Marks picking up the win while Bourret suffered the defeat.
