NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
NOJHL MEDIA UPDATE
Release Date: Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2014
Nickel Barons & Gold Miners improve to 2-0
SUDBURY – Game action in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League Wednesday evening saw the Sudbury Nickel Barons and Kirkland Lake Gold Miners both improve to 2-0 early in the season with home ice victories.
SUDBURY NICKEL BARONS 7 ELLIOT LAKE WILDCATS 4 – Jacob Bonin and Khadyn Butterfly each tallied twice and added a pair of assists to help the Nickel Barons spoil the Wildcats NOJHL debut at McClelland Arena.
Bonin notched Sudbury’s first two goals before the contest was five minutes old to put them up a pair early.
Elliot Lake captain David Chiarelli countered with his club’s first-ever NOJHL marker at 16:10 of the opening period as he finished off the work of Cole Hepler and Alex MacKenzie.
The home side replied late in the session with a power play effort off the stick of Butterfly to make it a 3-1 game after 20 minutes.
After Chris Ordoobati pulled the Wildcats back to within one early in the middle frame, Davis Gadjovich answered back for Sudbury midway through the proceedings.
Elliot Lake then struck twice three and a half minutes apart to tie it at 4-4 as Hepler and Shane Woolsey supplied their first goals of the season.
A shorthanded effort from Butterfly late in the second stanza proved to be the eventual game-winner as Sudbury went back up for good.
Dylan Callaghan, during a man advantage, and Danny Lepage, into an empty net in the late going, wrapped up the night’s scoring in the third.
Kevin Labelle made 33 saves to register the win for the Nickel Barons while A.J. Smith stopped 38 in a losing cause for Elliot Lake.
KIRKLAND LAKE GOLD MINERS 5 ABITIBI ESKIMOS 1 – Kirkland Lake broke open a 1-1 game with four unanswered efforts in the second period enroute to the triumph over the visiting Eskimos at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex.
Ryan Kerr staked Abitibi to an early lead, via the power play, at 12:19 of the first only to see Jeremy Picard-Fiset level the proceedings before the opening period was complete.
It was all Gold Miners in the second session as they got tallies from four different players to take control of the contest.
After Steven Babin put Kirkland Lake up one at 6:22 the home side added three more from Charles Bruneau-Crete, Ryan Swain and Joel Fortin to put the game away.
Neither side would score in the third as the Gold Miners won for a second straight outing and the Eskimos fell to 1-1.
Kenny Fitzgerald picked up the win between the pipes as he handled 28 of 29 attempts he saw.
Chet Tooker was busy in the Abitbi net as he had 49 pucks fired his way on the night.
NOJHL play resumes Thursday as Sudbury heads to Cochrane to take on the Crunch in a 7:30 p.m. start at the Tim Horton Event Centre.
