Photos: Justin Cairns
SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. – Breaking open a scoreless game with five second period tallies, the Soo Eagles went on to down the Elliot Lake Vikings 10-2 Friday in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest at Pullar Stadium.
Neither side would find the back of the net in the first period as it remained 0-0 after 20 minutes.
Sault Ste. Marie did open the scoring off a draw deep in the Elliot Lake zone in the second that saw Anden Marceau neatly redirect a Luke Russell left point attempt past netminder Ryder Lally at 2:18.
Clicking on a man advantage, the Eagles extended their lead when Drew Dellies snagged the puck off the end boards, off a Cole Wreggitt blast, and stuffed it in the open corner.
Not done there, the Soo added another when Cooper Fredericks supplied his team-leading 15th tally by taking a Lucas Caulfield saucer pass and taking left-to-right in close and tucking it by Lally.
A fourth in the frame saw Jack Fortson strike shorthanded as he took a Dellies feed and cranked in a one-timer on a two-on-one.
Capping off the offensive outburst, Wreggitt made a smart back-door pass across to Gabriel Fisher, who pumped it in at 19:45.
Putting it away in the third, the Eagles outscored the Eagles 5-2 to win going away.
Anthony Bertand got Elliot Lake on the board at 1:08 as he knocked in a close-range backhand on the Soo’s Jace Knoerle.
Fredericks, Marceau and Ilian Danilov then extended the home side’s cushion, before Bertrand bagged his second of the night with a shorthanded sizzler while dashing down the right wing.
The hosts then wrapped up the result in the late going off the sticks of Zach Sweitzer and Coulson Bell to round out the scoring.
With the outcome, the Eagles improve to 13-6-0-2 on the year and in defeat the Vikings fall to 5-14-0-0.
