NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
NOJHL NETWORK MEDIA UPDATE
Release Date: Friday, September 2, 2016
Eskis improve to 2-1 at Polar Bear Classic with win over Gold Miners
COCHRANE, Ont. – The Iroquois Falls Eskis jumped out to a three-goal lead and withstood a comeback bid by the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners to earn a 3-2 triumph Friday evening in Game No. 5 of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Polar Bear Classic preseason tournament hosted by the Cochrane Crunch at the Tim Horton Event Centre.
Iroquois Falls got off to a solid start as they went up a pair in the opening 20 minutes on an even strength effort off the stick of Cam Boutin along with a man advantage marker courtesy of David Osborne.
Jack Speer made it 3-0 Eskis 14:14 into the middle stanza before William Mizuik connected for the Gold Miners just over three minutes later.
With the two sides seeing solid goaltending the rest of the way, Speer did manage to score once more in the final seconds of the contest to round out the scoring.
Trevor Hawkes was the busier of the two netminders as the Iroquois Falls goalkeeper faced 45 shots in a winning cause for his club as they improved to 2-1 in the five-team preseason tourney.
Jeff Veitch stopped 35 of the 38 attempts he saw in defeat for the Gold Miners who fell to 0-2.
Next up at the Polar Bear Classic has the Espanola Express taking on the host Cochrane Crunch at 8:30 p.m. tonight.
Polar Bear Classic Schedule/Results
@ Tim Horton Event Centre – Cochrane, Ont.
Thursday, Sept. 1
Iroquois Falls 5 Espanola 4
Kingston (OJHL) 3 Cochrane 2
Friday, Sept. 2
Cochrane 5 Iroquois Falls 4
Kingston (OJHL) 4 Kirkland Lake 2
Iroquois Falls 3 Kirkland Lake 2
Espanola vs. Cochrane 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 3
Iroquois Falls vs. Kingston (OJHL) 10 a.m.
Kirkland Lake vs. Espanola 12:30 p.m.
Cochrane vs. Kirkland Lake 6 p.m.
Kingston (OJHL) vs. Espanola 8:30 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 4
Semifinal A: 4th round robin vs. 1st round robin 10 a.m.
Semifinal B: 3rd round robin vs. 2nd round robin 12 p.m.
Final: Semifinal A winner vs. Semifinal B winner 7 p.m.
