Thunder split pair of games with Delhi

All eyes are on the puck Saturday night in front of Tillsonburg Thunder goalie Jesse Raymond who faced 38 Delhi shots in an 8-5 Thunder WOSHL victory. (Chris Abbott Photo)

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

The Tillsonburg Thunder split a home-and-home series with the Delhi Flames with the home team being the loser in both cases.

Playing in Delhi on Feb. 1, Tillsonburg took a 2-0 lead early in the first period, with Sheldon Thompson and Thomas Maia hitting the mesh with only 2:02 off the clock. Delhi came back with a vengeance, tying it up before the five-minute mark. Maia and Taylor Doherty added two more period’s end to put the Thunder in the lead.

It was a second-period scoring fest for Tillsonburg with four goals. Brandon Couto had a pair, and singles came from Nicolas D’Agostino and Josh Pietrantonio for an 8-2 lead. The third period was all Delhi, with the Flames rallying for three goals, but they were unable to overcome the deficit and lost 8-5.

Assists through the game came from Thompson (5), Kurtis Heggie, Couto (2), D’Agostino (2), Mitchell Fitzmorris, Tucker Firth (2), and Kyle Brezinski.

It was a much tighter game on Jan. 25, going into overtime before the Flames eked out a 3-2 win.

Delhi was first on the board, with a goal with only seven minutes left in the first. Spencer Hutchison and Cory Mallet fed D’Agostino to even the score before period’s end. Delhi took the lead in the second, and held it most of the way through the third until Pietrantonio accepted a pass from Braden Roberts to send the game into overtime. Delhi scored the winner half-way through overtime.

The Thunder have two games left in regular season play and are sitting in fifth place at 25 points, a point behind the Petrolia Squires with a game in hand. The Stratford Fighting Irish are only two points ahead for third place. The Thunder face off against the Irish Saturday night at 7:30 in what promises to be an exciting game, before finishing the season on the road in Stratford.