NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
NOJHL COMMUNICATIONS
MEDIA RELEASE
Release Date: Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013
Blind River edges Abitibi to move into 5th place
BLIND RIVER – The Blind River Beavers built up a big lead then withstood a furious late comeback attempt to edge the Abitibi Eskimos 6-5 Saturday evening in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League play at the Blind River Community Centre.
After Paul Muio opened the scoring early for the home side, Zach Innes responded in quick order to level the proceedings.
A Scott Marshall power play effort midway through the opening period put Blind River back on top before the first period was out.
Each side added tallies in the middle frame with Travis Jones scoring for the Beavers 2:16 in before Wyatt Trumbley struck late in the session to make it a 3-2 game in favour of Blind River after 40 minutes.
The Beavers stormed out with three goals in under an eight-minute span to seemingly take control as Zach Pease, Corey McEwen and Tyler Brown all found the back of the net, increasing the cushion to 6-2.
Abitibi responded however with a trio of their own pulling to within one in the late stages as Innes and Trumbley both notched their second of the night before Nick Fountain scored with 50 seconds remaining to really make it interesting.
The Beavers did hang on the rest of the way to secure the win.
Joseph Lynch faced 29 shots to pick up the victory for the Beavers who move two points past the Eskimos into fifth place in the NOJHL standings on 28 points and an 11-23-2-4 overall record.
Jackson Winkler started for Abitibi, but gave way to Jeremy Laux after two goals and just 10 minutes of action.
Laux stopped 32 of 36 in relief in suffering the loss for the Eskimos who fell to 12-23-0-2 on the campaign.
League play resumes on two fronts Sunday as North Bay hosts Kirkland Lake at 2 p.m. while Abitibi rounds out a three-game road trip in Sault Ste. Marie vs. the Thunderbirds at 3 p.m.
