Sudbury and Kirkland Lake extend win streaks

NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE

NOJHL COMMUNICATIONS
MEDIA RELEASE

Release Date: Friday, Dec. 21, 2012

Sudbury and Kirkland Lake extend win streaks

SUDBURY – Friday night in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League saw the Sudbury Nickel Barons and Kirkland Lake Gold Miners continue their winning ways in extending winning streaks.

SUDBURY NICKEL BARONS 3 SOO THUNDERBIRDS 2 – An Andre Comtois goal 4:31 into the third period proved to be the game-winner as Sudbury won for a sixth consecutive occasion while handing Sault Ste. Marie their first loss of the season at Essar Centre in the process and second overall as the home side.

Following a scoreless opening frame the visitors struck twice in an 81-second span in the second on markers by Cory Vaillancourt, on the power play, and Martin Jolicoeur.

Dallas McLaughlin pulled the Soo to within one before the session was out as he notched his sixth of the season at 14:46.

Comtois extended the Sudbury cushion with his effort in the third before Derek Battagin made it 3-2 with 8:14 remaining.

That was as close as the Thunderbirds got however as the Nickel Barons held on  to win entering their portion of the holiday break as the hottest team in the league raising their record to 19-11 on the season thanks to their six-game winning streak.

Alex Laino turned aside 23 shots and earned the victory while Joel Horodziejczyk had 20 saves in a losing cause as the T-Birds who dropped to 19-5-3-2.

The Thunderbirds only other home setback was back on Oct. 12 when they dropped a 5-4 decision in overtime to Blind River in a contest staged at John Rhodes Community Centre.

KIRKLAND LAKE GOLD MINERS 8 ELLIOT LAKE BOBCATS 0 – Chris Komma turned aside all 20 shots he faced to register his second straight shutout while helping his side win their third in a row.

Komma’s performance allowed him to raise a goalless streak to 122 minutes and four seconds of game action.

A three-goal opening period was enough to send the Gold Miners on their way to the triumph.

After Steven Babin opened the scoring during a man advantage 2:27 into the contest, Royce King and Dustin Jesseau added later markers to help power Kirkland Lake to  their 16th win of the season.

The home side then blew open the contest in the middle stanza increasing the cushion to 7-0 after 40 minutes as Ethan Strong, Connor McNally, Jordon Briand and Gordon Sinclair all found the back of the net.

Another by Jesseau in the final period rounded out the scoring in the contest. He also dished out two earlier assists for a four-point night.

A total of eight Gold Miners finished up the evening with multiple-point games.

Komma had the win as Kirkland Lake improved to 16-11-2-1 on the campaign while Elliot Lake dropped to 7-19-0-1. Cory Simic suffered the loss.

The 2012 portion of the NOJHL schedule concludes Saturday with two games as Abitibi hosts the Bobcats while Blind River entertains the Bobcats. Both match-ups get underway at 7:30 p.m.