Photos: Helene Rancourt
BLIND RIVER, Ont. – After building up a significant lead, the Blind River Beavers had to withstand a strong push back from the Elliot Lake Vikings before eventually prevailing 5-3 Saturday in a match-up on the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League slate at Blind River Recreation Centre.
Blind River got the game’s first goal nearly four minutes in after they generated a turnover in the neutral zone, which led to Keenan Conn stuffing in a backhand on Elliot Lake’s Brogan Colquhoun, with an assist from Clark Furman.
The Beavers then went up by a pair later in the period when Ryder Hill knocked in a loose puck from the top of the crease for his fourth of the season.
Moving to the middle frame, Blind River kept it going and tacked on two more to extend their lead as Hill ripped in a wrister from the slot and Jonah McIndoo roofed a backhand to make it 4-0.
Battling back, Elliot Lake banged in a couple of tallies of their own later in the session to pull within two after 40 minutes.
Yenry Jibb got the Vikings on the board at 15:10 as he jammed in rebound off a Dylan Garvin chance, while Anthony Bertrand redirected in a Mason Windsor shot on a five-on-three.
Recently acquired Austin Montgomery-Parsons then brought Elliot Lake to within one, early in the third, as he collected his initial league tally by beating Blind River goalkeeper Bronx Bodnar as he jammed it in from the left side.
The Beavers eventually secured the victory in the late going though, when Jack Kruiderink batted in his own shot that hit off the end glass and bounced back in front while battling in front.
With the result, Blind River improves to 11-7-1-0 and in defeat, Elliot Lake slipped to 4-12-0-0.
