NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
NOJHL NETWORK MEDIA UPDATE
Release Date: Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015
Canadians hold on to edge Rapids 5-4
NOELVILLE, Ont. – The Rayside-Balfour Canadians scored twice while shorthanded and added another pair on the power play, then withstood a late comeback attempt by the French River Rapids to hold on for a 5-4 victory Wednesday in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League match-up at Noelville Arena.
Rayside-Balfour picked up the lone tally of the opening period while down a man as Matt Neault connected at 8:24.
The Canadians second man-down marker came early in the middle frame thanks to Danny Lepage at 1:47 of the session.
Rayside-Balfour then tacked on two with the man advantage courtesy of Ryan Mooney and Bradley Sutton to go up 4-0 and seemingly taking control of the contest.
Battling back, French River got on the board in the final minute of the second thanks to Brandan Dumouchel’s tally at 19:03.
Tyler McGregor then made it 4-2 six minutes into the third only to see the Canadians’ Ryan Erickson answer that with one of his own a mere 14 seconds later.
The Rapids then got that one back via the power play at 7:51 as Jared Binguis beat Rayside-Balfour netminder Kevin Labelle.
French River added another extra man marker with 6:43 to go in regulation from newcomer Bret McInall, but could not net the equalizer before time expired as the visitors held on for the win.
Kevin Labelle finished with 32 saves for the Canadians as they improved to 3-0 on the year.
Alec St. Georges went the distance for the Rapids and faced 45 shots in the loss.
