Photos: Helene Rancourt
BLIND RIVER, Ont. – Breaking open a third period tie with five unanswered goals, the Blind River Beavers went on to down the Elliot Lake Red Wings 6-1 Saturday night in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League affair at the Blind River Community Centre.
Play in the opening frame saw neither side connect offensively as the sides reached the initial intermission still in search of the evening’s opening goal.
The Beavers did connect 2:40 into the second stanza as Henry Attard sent Matthew Green ahead on a rush where he darted down the ice, moved slightly to his left, and whipped a quick shot by the glove of Elliot Lake goaltender Cameron Smith, for his seventh goal of the season as well as give him points in four straight outings.
That score line held up until nearly four minutes into the third, where the Red Wings drew level as Braden Twigg tallied for a second time in as many nights as he took an Evan Dantas feed and fired one over the blocker of Charlie Burns in the Blind River net.
Buoyed by a brilliant cross-crease save by Burns after that, while his club was shorthanded, the Beavers stormed back to win going away.
A solid forecheck by Evan Fraccaro helped the hosts regain the lead at 8:26 as his diligence along the end boards helped him set-up Jacob Kovacs, who was cruising in front, and snapped the eventual game-winner over the glove of Smith.
Fraccaro then supplied some insurance a few shifts later by converting while up a skater by taking a cross-ice feed from Jack Robinson prior to firing it into the left-hand corner.
Securing the home ice victory, the Beavers kept coming and tacked on three more in quick succession to put secure the result on markers from Green, Caleb Minns and Nicholas Brady to win going away.
The triumph sees Blind River improve to 20-7-2-2 while the loss has Elliot Lake sinking to 12-15-1-1.