Photos: Allyson Demers
KIRKLAND LAKE, Ont. – Completing a successful weekend road trip, the Hearst Lumberjacks won for a third straight outing as they defeated the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners 6-2 in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League Sunday matinee at Joe Mavrinac Community Complex.
Striking first, Hearst’s Keenan Quenneville snagged a rebound off an Adam Shillinglaw point blast and lifted in a backhand on a sprawling Mason Janicki in the Kirkland Lake net.
Drawing even at 10:41 of the first period, Dawson Boily drew the Gold Miners level as he had a couple of in-close cracks off a Mason Brownlee attempt before stuffing one in on Lumberjacks’ starter Owen Bonthuis.
Restoring the third lead just over a minute later, Damien Bourdon-Lemoyne put Hearst back on top by finishing off a goal-mouth scramble.
They then took a 3-1 lead into the first intermission when Tyler Patterson forced a turnover deep in Kirkland Lake territory that led to him concluding a passing play with Mathieu Comeau and Bourdon-Lemoyne.
That helped Patterson and Comeau extend consecutive game point streaks to seven straight games.
The lone goal in the second session came at 15:58 as Bourdon-Lemoyne joined a group chasing the puck into the Kirkland Lake zone and he eventually got to it and pumped it high over the glove of Janicki.
In the final frame, the home side pulled to within a pair thanks to Aaron Leenaars, who picked up a chip from teammate James Cullison and after a couple of attempts put one past Bonthuis with 7:22 remaining.
However, the Lumberjacks countered quickly once again and saw Aiden Kalin lift in a backhand 36 seconds later on a rebound via a Julien Trudel shot from the left point.
Comeau then helped cap-off a road trip with a third victory in as many days as he jammed in a chance while parked to the right of Janicki to round out the scoring.
