ELLIOT LAKE, Ont. – The Rayside-Balfour Canadians picked up the only two tallies of the shootout to help them pull out a narrow 2-1 win over the Elliot Lake Wildcats Saturday in a low-scoring Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League affair at Centennial Arena.
An early power play helped Rayside-Balfour get on the board first as Benjamin Hatanaka connected 2:12 into the match-up as he picked up his second of the campaign.
A man advantage in the latter stages of the second period allowed Elliot Lake to tie things up compliments of the third of the season off the stick of Noah Minns.
The match-up remained tight checking throughout the remainder of regulation as the two sides headed to overtime.
That five-minute session saw each team have a quality chance to end it, but the netminders remained stellar yet again to send the contest to the second shootout in league play so far this season.
In the extra shots, neither side would convert on their respective first chances, but the Canadians’ Giordano Biondi capitalized on his opportunity by going upstairs into the left side of the net to give RBC the edge.
After Elliot Lake was stymied once more, Zachary Hauseman ended it as his snap shot on Wildcats’ goaltender Dominic Boily saw him get a piece of it, but not enough, as the puck trickled over the goal line to conclude the contest.
Shots on goal on the night favoured Rayside-Balfour by a 37-33 margin with the Canadians’ Sebastien Plamondon securing his first NOJHL win while Boily’s efforts helped the Wildcats secure a point in the standings in suffering the slender setback.
