SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. – Rayside-Balfour Canadians rookie goaltender Nicholas Heinzle turned aside all 28 attempts he faced to register his first Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League shutout in blanking the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners 3-0 at the NOJHL Showcase Wednesday at Big Bear Arena.
Rayside-Balfour came hard at Kirkland Lake in the opening 20 minutes, outshooting them by a 14-5 margin, but neither side would connect in a scoreless frame.
It was the Canadians who opened the afternoon’s scoring just 12 seconds into the middle stanza thanks to Dylan Bertrand.
Matthew Belanger then added another at 6:40 as his ninth overall put Rayside-Balfour up by a pair.
Moving to the final frame, Zachary Hauseman wrapped up the scoring with a late empty netter to secure the win for RBC.
Gold Miners goaltender Kyle McNair had 38 saves in defeat for Kirkland Lake.
