IROQUOIS FALLS, Ont. – The Hearst Lumberjacks saw defenceman Royce Abraham register his first Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League hat trick Thursday in help lead his side past the Iroquois Falls Storm 7-2 at Jus Jordan Arena.
Hearst took the lead six and a half minutes into the contest when Abraham was left to slide a loose puck into the open corner on Iroquois Falls netminder Caleb Shuker, off a Luc Warner chance.
The Lumberjacks came right back and notched another at 7:58 when Kai Winterscheid promptly pumped in a rebound via a Julien Trudel point blast.
A couple of solid stops by Hearst starter Cooper Marsh kept it a 2-0 game heading into the first intermission.
Action in the second stanza saw the visitors extended their lead on an early man advantage when Owen Kahl darted around the Storm net and fired a feed over to Abraham on the right side where he moved in a whipped a shot upstairs on Shuker.
Going right back to the power play, Abraham supplied his third of the evening as he took a pass back from Terence Levasseur and proceeded to roof another shot, this one coming from the left point.
Hearst kept coming and went up by five at 5:49 when Bruce Shier took a cross-ice feed from Timur Naurzbaev and wired it in.
That resulted in a goaltending change for Iroquois Falls and saw Keenan Connely enter in relief.
The Storm eventually put one past Marsh later in the session, thanks to Seamus Arthur McCown, who pressured a turnover down low and shoveled a backhand into the crease that Alexandre St. Pierre lifted in.
However, a third extra-man marker for the guests saw Cameron Menard collect his NOJHL-leading 18th goal of the season after being credited with the last touch off an attempt put towards the target by Dylan Westmann.
Hearst then capped off the road victory midway through the final frame when a crafty pass from William Fournier sent Kadin Bilajbegovic in alone on Connely where he made a quick cut to his right before depositing a backhand.
Iroquois Falls got one more with four minutes remaining to cap off the scoring thanks to Mateo Moro, who finished a goal-mouth scramble.
With the win, the Lumberjacks improve to 12-5-2-0 on the campaign and in defeat the Storm slip to 5-11-1-0.
