Game Photos: Northern Exposures
ELLIOT LAKE, Ont. – The Elliot Lake Red Wings surged back from a two-goal deficit by supplying five unanswered markers to pull out a 6-3 decision over the Blind River Beavers in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League match-up Friday at Centennial Arena.
The visiting Beavers took the lead nearly seven minutes into the proceedings as James Ingram left a drop pass for Evan Fraccaro who promptly wired one over the shoulder of Red Wings’ starter Cameron Smith from the left circle.
Blind River came back and clicked gain, this time on the power play, less than a minute later with Ethan Pegg cranking a one-timer from the high slot for his fifth tally of the campaign.
Getting one back before the first intermission, Elliot Lake’s Jovani Moses converted via the man advantage at 16:45 when he calmly collected a rebound off a Cameron Dial attempt from the point and tucked it past Gavin Disano, manning the Beavers’ net.
Pegg got that back early in the middle session as he took a diving chip sent his way from Hayden Webster before moving in and whipping a low shot through the legs of Smith.
Battling closer, the home side’s Kaden Laverdiere swiped the puck off a defender and moved in where his backhand effort eluded Disano to make it 3-2 at 5:55.
Moses then tied it on a nice rush up the right side where he moved into the Blind River zone and snapped a shot from a sharp angle that got through Disano and tricked across the goal line.
Potting another one a minute and a half later, the Red Wings’ Brodie Kearns broke up a Beavers’ pass that sent Aidan Leblanc up ice where he moved from right to left then put a low attempt towards the net that clipped off a Blind River defenceman and into the open side at 12:26.
Moving to the third period, a fourth straight Elliot Lake marker was helped by the strong forecheck of Brock McNaughton who got it front when Alex Antoine banged in a loose puck near the crease.
Parker Banks then capped off the victory as he put one into an empty net in the final minute for his initial NOJHL tally.
Smith was solid, making 42 stops to pick up the win for the Red Wings while Disano saw 39 attempts put on him in defeat.