PHOTOS: Petrah Joehl – Sudbury Light Event Photography
SUDBURY, Ont. – A three-goal outburst by the Blind River Beavers in the final five minutes of regulation broke open a tie game and sent them on their way to a 5-2 triumph over the Hearst Lumberjacks Tuesday in Day 1 play at the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League Showcase at Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex.
The solid Hearst power play went to work to notch the day’s initial tally as Mathieu Comeau whipped in a loose puck at the top of the crease on Blind River goaltender Iain Wintle, midway through the first period.
Adding an equalizer in the final minute of the first, Joseph Rotilio pumped a shot on net from the point, then saw Jakob Kovacs jump in and put in the rebound that Lumberjacks’ goalkeeper Tristan Boileau could only get a piece of, before it trickled in across the line.
Action in the second stanza saw the Beavers strike quickly in transition as Michael Gallagher knocked down the puck while darting alone the left wing, then sent it cross-ice to Kovacs, who put it over the glove of Boileau at 16:48.
Drawing even in the final seconds of the session, Hearst’s Owen Hey sent a feed out from behind the net to defenceman William Pâquet, who buried the tying goal from the top of the left circle.
Staying tied until the latter stages of the contest, Blind River went in front for good when Jacob Beemer corralled a loose puck in the high slot, then spun and quickly whipped it in for his first NOJHL tally.
Building on that just over a minute later, Josh Thompson put the Beavers up by a pair as he finished off a rebound from an Andrey Manov attempt from the left point.
They then secured the result with a late empty netter off the stick of Jack Robinson to wrap things up.
The win sees Blind River improve to 7-2-0-0, with the Lumberjacks falling to 5-3-0-1.
