By Matt Stefano
Tonight the Soo Thunderbirds welcomed the new Cochrane Crunch to the John Rhodes Centre for the first time this season. This was the second meeting between these two clubs after the Soo beat them in Cochrane 4-0 back on November 7th with Mario Culina picking up his first career shutout. It also marked they debut of defenseman # 20 Andrew Barbeau who signed with the team today.
The teams were scoreless after twenty before the Soo trailed 1-0 after the second and 3-0 halfway into the third courtesy of Cody Gratton’s natural hat trick. The Soo would make a comeback getting goals from Joey Ogden and Matt Pinder with under three minutes to go in regulation but that’s a close as they would get as the T-Birds fell short to the Cochrane Crunch by a 3-2 score. Brett Jeffries finished the game with a pair of assists.
Brian Kment made thirty saves for the loss. Next action for the T-Birds will be next Friday, December 12th at 7:30 when they take on the Blind River Beavers from the John Rhodes.
