On Saturday August 30th, NOJHL expansion team Elliot Lake Wildcats hit the ice to square off against future West division rival, Soo Thunderbirds. The Wildcats brought in a total attendance of 724 people in their only pre-season game.
Going into the game against the Thunderbirds, the Wildcats were fresh out of training camp and haven't established a complete roster yet. A few hours prior to puck drop, the Wildcats announced tonight would be the debut for Elliot Lake native goaltender Tristan Hanna. The 18-year-old goalie had attended Wildcats main training camp and played two games last year for the Bobcats recording a 2.42 GAA.
The game was scoreless throughout the first period and chances coming to both sides. Then with only a minute left in the first period, Wildcats forward Nathan Campbell netted a power play goal and the games first to put Elliot Lake up. Starting the game in goal for the Wildcats though was AJ Smith, Smith faced ten shots in the first period stopping all of them to keep the game 1-0 after the first twenty minutes.
Going into the second, Smith was taken out of the game and Tristan Hanna was put in. Just over two minutes into the second, Thunderbirds forward Jacob Porco beat Hanna to tie the game up at one a piece. Throughout the second, the Wildcats were given three power play opportunities including a two man advantage but could not convert. Hanna stopped nine of ten shots faced in the second frame.
The Wildcats made another change in goal to get 17-year-old and Barrie native Allan Menary into the game. A little over eleven minutes into third, with both teams unable to convert on power play opportunities the Thunderbirds took the 2-1 lead off of Porco's second goal of the night. The Wildcats would respond quickly though as Alec Mackenzie buried the game-tying goal only two minutes later. At the end of the period, Menary had saved twelve of thirteen Thunderbird shots. The Wildcats only managed to land six shots in the third on Thunderbirds goalie Mario Culina, and a total of twenty-nine throughout regulation play. The game was nodded at two and headed to overtime.
The overtime period begun, and Wildcats coach Nathan Hewitt had made the decision to keep Menary in net for the beginning of the sudden death round. Menary would play less than a minute in the overtime period though, Matt Pinder would score on the Thunderbirds second shot of overtime to end the game early.
The Wildcats would fall just short of the win on home ice, and the Thunderbirds head to the bus with their first win of the season (if you really wanna count pre-season). The Wildcats power play went 1 for 9, and the team gave up four power plays throughout the game. The final shots recorded were 35-30 in favour of the Thunderbirds and final score of 3-2 in OT. The Wildcats take the ice next September 10th in Sudbury to face off against the Nickel Barons and begin their season.
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