SooThunderbirds tie Sudbury Wednesday night

The Soo Thunderbirds flew away from Sudbury with a tie on Wednesday night. The Thunderbirds kept their undefeated record in tact with a 5-5 tie against the Sudbury Northern Wolves in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action. The Thunderbirds record moves to 6-0-2 with a comfortable lead in the west division. In Sudbury, Cory McGillis beat goaltender Frank Carlucci 42 seconds into the game to give the Wolves a 1-0 lead. Bryan Pearce scored for the Thunderbirds to tie the score at 1-1 after one period. Sudbury took a 3-2 lead into the third period as Christian Cundari and Andrew Hawes scored for the home side. Chez Gioia replied for the Thunderbirds. Tom Vernelli played hero for the Thunderbirds with two of the team's three goals in the third period. Vernelli opened the period with a goal to tie the game at 3-3 before sealing a tie with a goal to tie the score at 5-5 with 1:04 remaining in regulation time. D.J. Jelitto also scored for the Thunderbirds while Kyle Jones added three assists. Mike MacMillan and Ryan MacKay added two assists each for the Soo. McGillis and Jeffrey Christison scored for Sudbury in the third. The Thunderbirds out shot Sudbury 42-37 while both teams managed 15 shots each in the third period and four each in overtime. Next action for the Thunderbirds is Sunday when they host the Rayside Balfour Sabrecats at 6 p.m. at the John Rhodes Community Centre. *** PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Thunderbirds forward Tom Vernelli was named the NOJHL player of the week ending September 28. Vernelli scored four goals and four assists during a three game span. The selection marks the second consecutive week a Thunderbird was selected for the honour. Last week, Josh Leddy was named as the first player of the week for the season.