Indians in three-way tie for second

A weekend split has left the Soo Indians in a three-way tie for second place within the torrid standings of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League.

After losing 2-1 to Sudbury despite outshooting the Kal Tire Junior Wolves 37-29 on Friday night, the Indians rebounded on Saturday evening to post a tidy 3-1 decision over the crossriver rival Soo Thunderbirds before 254 fans at Big Bear Arena.

With 20 points from a 10-6 record, the Indians are tied with North Bay and Blind River for second place, just three points back of first-place Sudbury but just three points ahead of surging Abitibi.

Friday night, defenceman Sean Reid scored the only goal for the Indians, who were repeatedly thwarted by Sudbury rookie goalie Alain Valiquette.

Saturday night, the Indians ran into another hot goalie in Ryan Dube of the Thunderbirds. The Indians poured 50 shots at Dube -- 20 in the third period -- but needed two goals in the final frame to break a 1-1 tie and secure the 3-1 triumph.

Joe Larson, Chris Cooper and Sean Farley, with his team-leading 13th goal, handled the Indians' scoring. Paul Isleib added two assists for the Indians to boost his point totals to 3-12-15, second on the Indians to Farley, who is 13-7-20.

Brennan Poderzay started in the Indians net and blocked 13 of 14 shots in the first period before tweaking his hamstring. Elliot Hogue finished up with a 23-save effort over two periods to post the win.

Indians' head coach Jim Capy was relieved to get the win over the Thunderbirds.

"We had 87 shots in two games and scored only four goals and that is a concern. Had we finished better around the net, we would have won both games," the Indians' boss said evenly.

Capy, Hogue and Indians' chief scout Jim Yardanoff will be among the guests when "The Hockey North Show" makes its debut on SportsZeus.com on Thursday, November 9 at 7:00 p.m. The show will be broadcast live from Brody's Sports Bar in Soo, Ontario.