NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
MEDIA UPDATE
Release Date: Friday, Nov. 15, 2013
Kirkland Lake and Abitibi skate to Friday victories
SUDBURY – Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League competition Friday evening saw the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners blank the Elliot Lake Bobcats 3-0 to continue their winning ways while the Abitibi Eskimos edged the Espanola Rivermen in a neutral site game held in Timmins.
KIRKLAND LAKE GOLD MINERS 3 ELLIOT LAKE BOBCATS 0 – Jessie Morin turned aside all 25 shots he faced to post the shutout for Kirkland Lake who set a new team mark for consecutive wins with seven while ending Elliot Lake’s franchise-best five-game victory streak.
Austin Rust notched the eventual game-winner early in the opening period to send the home side on their way.
Alex Hulford and Ethan Strong added some insurance with tallies in the second stanza to round out the scoring.
Alex Bitsakis stopped 24 of the 27 attempts he saw fired his way in defeat.
With the triumph the Gold Miners improved to 18-2-0-1 on the season, one point behind first place Sault Ste. Marie while also holding three games in hand on the Thunderbirds.
The Bobcats slipped to 11-7-0-3 with the loss.
ABITIBI ESKIMOS 4 ESPANOLA RIVERMEN 3 – A trio of second period tallies helped Abitibi slip past Espanola in this neutral site affair held at McIntyre Arena in Timmins in front of 580 Jr. A faithful.
After Shane Hiley began the scoring for the Eskimos 82 seconds after the opening face-off, Alex Martin pulled the Rivermen even eith 5:26 to go in period No. 1.
Brady Clouthier and Brenden Locke put Abitibi up 3-1 by the midway point of the contest before Corbin Bean struck shorthanded at 13:44.
Before the session was out Ben Miller buried the eventual winning tally for the Eskimos.
Espanola’s Brennen Dubchak dished out his third assist of the night in the final frame setting up Cray Roberge to draw the Rivermen closer in what would turn out to be the last goal of the night.
Shots on goal favoured Abitibi 37-28 with Brody Wagner earning the win for the Eskimos, who raised their record to 10-9-0-2.
Marc Theriault suffered the defeat as his club dropped to 15-9.
