Kirkland Lake moves into 1st overall with road win at French River

FRENCH RIVER – Continuing to roll right along, the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners rolled to their sixth straight Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League victory Saturday as they bounced the French River Rapids 6-2 at Noelville Arena.

Also as winners of 11 of their past 12 outings, Kirkland Lake moved into top spot overall in the NOJHL standings with the victory moving to 11-2 overall and 22 points.

Entering the night having gone 6-0 when scoring first in a game so far this season, the Gold Miners improved that to seven when Hunter Foreshaw put his side on the board at 16:14.

The visitors then added another 45 seconds later when Gregory Trudeau-Paquet put in his seventh of the campaign.

Trudeau-Paquet’s second of the evening upped the cushion 6:08 into the middle stanza before Connor Loft’s fifth of the year got the Rapids going offensively as he scored while his side was shorthanded.

However, Kirkland Lake broke it open with a three-tally outburst from Noach Cauchi at even strength along with Gabriel Leblanc and Christian Snyder, via the man advantage, putting the guests in control after two periods of play.

Hunter Brazier, who missed on a second period penalty shot, did convert in the third notching a marker with seven and a half minutes to go to wrap up the night’s scoring for French River.

Alex Elie had a three assist evening for the Gold Miners while James Scott and Vinny DeSanctis chipped in with a couple helpers apiece.

Dawson Rodin made 32 saves to record the latest Kirkland Lake triumph as he won his fourth straight start while Marshall Frappier was peppered with 46 shots against for the Rapids in a losing cause.