Saturday sees Kirkland Lake and Abitibi skate to victories

 

NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE

NOJHL COMMUNICATIONS
MEDIA RELEASE

Release Date: Saturday, Nov. 24, 2012

Saturday sees Kirkland Lake and Abitibi skate to victories

SUDBURY – It was a night for the home teams Saturday in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League as the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners and Abitibi Eskimos skated to victories.

KIRKLAND LAKE GOLD MINERS 5 NORTH BAY TRAPPERS 2 – Kirkland Lake roared back from a two-goal second period deficit and rallied for the home ice triumph over visiting North Bay.

The Trappers grabbed a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes courtesy of markers from Justin Schneeberger and Kyle Arenson.

Jeremy Picard-Fiset started the comeback for the Gold Miners scoring 6:48 into the middle frame.

They then tied the contest 10 minutes later with Tanner Lafrance striking shorthanded to level the proceedings heading into the third period.

Joey Ftoma would bury the eventual game-winner with 12:24 remaining in regulation before Ethan Strong and Royce King added some insurance with a pair of power play markers to round out the night’s scoring.

Chris Komma finished up with 17 saves to pick up the win for the Miners who raised their record to 13-8-1-1.

Dustin Hummel started for North Bay and had 11 stops in just over 50 minutes of action in suffering the loss while Greg Dodds turned aside seven of eight in relief for the Trappers who fell to 15-3-2-3 on the year.

ABITIBI ESKIMOS 5 BLIND RIVER BEAVERS 4 – A Peter Poulin-Roy with just 17 seconds remaining was the difference as Abitibi edged Blind River at Jus Jordan Arena.

The Eskimos took a 2-1 lead after one period of play with Ryan Wildman and Poulin-Roy scoring for Abitibi and Samuel Wilber countering for the Beavers.

Richard Therien’s league-leading 21st tally of the season extended the cushion early in the middle stanza before a Cray Roberge man advantage effort at 16:08 made it a 3-2 game after 40 minutes.

The Blind River power play pulled them level 8:46 into the third with Jacob Boisvenue doing the damage.

After Aaron Kerr put the Eskies back on top midway through the session, Fraser Dylan Atkinson answered right back a mere 35 seconds later only to see Poulin-Roy win it with his late-game heroics.

Jackson Winkler kicked out 32 shots to pick up the win while Aaron Cormier faced 26 pucks in defeat with Brandon Currie making two saves in limited action in the first period.

Abitibi raised their record to 7-12-0-1 with the triumph and Blind River slipped to 4-13-2-3.