Following two tough losses to St. Catharines last week, a bus trip down the highway was apparently all Thorold needed to right the good ship Blackhawk as the team rode a 43-shot-on-net effort to a 6-1 win over the team following them in the Golden Horseshoe Jr. B league standings.
Despite the lopsided result, Thorold goalie Noah Fortuna had to be sharp as the Meteors peppered him with 32 shots.
As teams learn quickly in Jr. B play, penalties can knock the wheels off in a big hurry as Fort Erie started the game a man down after one of their players took a warm-up violation and earned a 10-minute misconduct before the puck had even dropped. The Meteors went on to take the next three penalties and ended the period down 2-0 on two goals from Trevor Neumann with Mario Zitella collecting two assists, and Devon Thibodeau and Evan Miller each picking up one.
Despite more penalty trouble, Fort Erie traded goals with the Blackhawks in the second with Nick Gidney scoring on the power-play, assisted by Riley Sutherland and Nicholas Rubino.
In an about-face, the at-home Meteors only landed in the penalty box once in the third, but unfortunately for the, the Blackhawks were fully warmed up and fired 17 shots on net in the period, piling on another three goals.
Miller picked added a goal and assist to his effort on the night, while Jonathan Balah collected a power-play goal, Thorold’s of the night, and Cam Lightfoot finished Thorold’s scoring with a little over a minute to play in the game. Neumann added two assists, ending the night with four points, while Rubino and Sutherland each picked up their second points of the night with assists.
As for penalties, Thorold was short-handed for only 8 minutes versus Fort Erie’s 42.
