Nearly a month into the season, the Northern Michigan Black Bears finally had their first taste of home ice advantage.
Playing their first home game in five outings, the Black Bears doubled the Soo Thunderbirds 4-2 in Northern Onatrio Junior Hockey League action in St. Ignace on Wednesday night.
Chris Kraft opened the scoring on the power play in the first period before the Black Bears added another pair in the second period to jump ahead 3-0.
Just 14 seconds into the second frame, Mike Herbert scored before Sault, Ontario product Drew Jarrett scored the game winner at 2:55 for the 3-0 lead. Jarrett was recently aquired by Northern Michigan in a trade with Blind River.
Ryan Maunu scored a pair of goals for the Thunderbirds in the second period including one on the power play to cut the lead to 3-2 heading into the final period.
Jordan Bowman added an insurance marker on the power play at 14:14 to cap the scoring.
Matt Hache, a Soo Greyhounds draft pick, made his debut in net for the Thunderbirds and stopped 29 of the 33 shots he faced. The Thunderbirds fired 31 shots at Kirk Panik.
The Black Bears improve to 2-3 on the season but remain in last place in the NOJHL's Western Division. The Thunderbirds sit in third place at 3-2.
The Thunderbirds return home to the John Rhodes Community Centre on Friday night as the Abitibi Eskimos visit for a 7:30 p.m. start.
In other NOJHL action on Wednesday, the Blind River Beavers ended a three-game losing streak by exploding for a 9-7 win in Sudbury over the Northern Wolves.
Darren Rainville paced the Beavers with four goals while Billy Becker scored once and added five assists. Dustin McLeod, Jeff Wallis, Sean Goff and Jeff Wills also scored for the winners. Brock Lees picked up the win in goal.
Jeff Christison replied with a four goal effort for Sudbury.