Junior hockey: Thunder defeat Hitmen to open showcase; Nordiques win again

The Twin City Thunder opened their slate at the Cyclones Columbus Day Showcase in Hudson, New Hampshire, with a 5-1 victory over the New Jersey Hitmen in their of two games first games Friday.

The victory is Twin City’s third straight USPHL win.

“It’s a good win. They are a strong program, we played as well as we could,” Thunder coach Doug Friedman said. “We had some real good penalty killing and scored (a) nice power play goal. Jaxon (Friedman) was in net, it was a good team win.”

Derric Trudeau and Zachary Desmarais each had two goals and an assist to lead the Thunder.

“(Trudeau) really starting to pick it up,” Friedman said. “I think a lot of it is his line, his line has been on. He’s a real hard worker and his line has sort of fed off of him with that work ethic. He’s been finding some open ice and receiving some good passes from his linemates.”

Trudeau opened the scoring with 7:05 remaining in the first period on the power play. Desmarais and Nick Malik picked up the assists on Trudeau’s third goal of the season.

The Thunder went 1-for-3 on the man advantage while the Hitmen were 0-for-3.

Desmarais put the Thunder up 2-0 heading into the first intermission. Malik tallied his second assists of the afternoon and Jeromey Rancourt also found the score sheet on the play.

Trudeau opened the scoring again in the second period, right after the three-minute mark. He was set up by defenseman Rease Hubert.

Connor Bizal broke up Jaxon Friedman’s shutout attempt with his fourth goal of the season, off assists by Josh Mead and Robbie Sheenan.

Jax Friedman made 25 saves in the win. His counterpart, Trevor Stenberg, also turned aside 25 shots.

Desmarais tied Trudeau for the team lead in goals with his fourth of the season to put the Thunder on top 4-1 at the 7:53 mark. Trudeau assisted on the goal.

Zachary Simpson capped the scoring for his first goal of the season. The 20-year-old from Pebroke, Massachusetts, joined the Thunder at the beginning of the season.

“He has good size and he skates really well. He has a good shot,” Friedman said. “He had a couple grade-A chances throughout the early season thus far, he just hadn’t been able to find the back of the net until today.”

Simpson came from the Hartford Jr. Wolfpack’s USPHL Elite team, for which he had 23 goals and 14 assists in 38 games last season.

Simpson’s goal was assisted by Etienne Crousle, who was named the Premier Northern Divisions forward of the week.

The Thunder played their second game of the showcase late Friday night against the Hartford Jr. Wolfpack

NA3HL

L/A 4, Long Beach 2

LONG BEACH, N.Y. — The change of the calendar hasn’t stopped the L/A Nordiques, as they extended their season-opening winning streak to nine games with a 4-2 victory over the Long Beach Sharks on Friday night.

Joe Bisson had a hat trick to pace the Nordiques. Goalie Daniel Miller only needed to make 15 saves for the victory.

Ryan Cortez made 43 saves in the loss.

Crewz Berry put the Nordiques up 1-0 7:35 into the first period with his third goal of the season. The assists went to Donovan Tehan and Mike Keller. Joe Bisson potted his eighth goal of the season with 4:47 remaining in the opening period as Colby Audette and Sam Frechette notched the helpers.

The Sharks cut the deficit to one heading into the third period when Jackson Wellmeyer notched his second goal of the season.

Bisson potted his second of the game, with Cole Ouellette and Frechette notching the assists, at the 4:09 mark.

Long Beach responded as Cade Lambdin scored his seventh goal of the season while the Sharks were shorthanded at the 8:33 mark. Dino Mukovoz and Richard Frosch set up the tally.

Bisson completed the hat trick with 27 seconds remaining in the game. JP Chauvin and Ouellette recorded the assists.

Chauvin was named the NA3HL Defenseman of the Month this week after he had five goals and 17 assists in September. He was also named the Coastal Division’s Defenseman of the Week this week. Josh Sanchez was an honorable mention as a Forward of the Month. He was also a honorable mention as the Coastal Division’s Forward of the Week.