ESPANOLA, Ont. – Kyle Avery notched a pair of goals and helped set-up another as his three-point night paced the French River Rapids past the Espanola Express 5-3 Friday in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League match-up at the Regional Recreation Complex.
Jack Tos got the Rapids started offensively as he notched the lone marker of the first period 12 and a half minutes in with help from teammates Ty Chambers and Avery.
It was more from Avery early in the second frame as he had an unassisted effort at 3:11.
Going to the power play, Espanola pulled back to within one at 7:42 with Zachary Matyasik supplying his 17th of he campaign.
French River answered that five minutes later though on a Ryan Smith effort.
The Express countered once more in the final moments of the period thanks to Josh Boucher to make it 3-2 heading into the intermission.
In the third, James Eng doubled the Rapids cushion once more before Avery finished off his third of the evening at 8:39.
The home side did get one back late to round out the evening’s scoring when Jaydyn Parnell picked up his eighth at 18:36.
Copper Bowman chipped in with two assists to aid the winners’ cause while Tyler Nelson and Max Curtis did likewise for Espanola
Rapids netminder Sebastian Woods was solid making 44 saves to record the win while Joel Rainville of the Express faced 40 attempts in defeat.