NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
NOJHL MEDIA UPDATE
Release Date: Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014
Nickel Barons mine fifth win of the season
SUDBURY – The Sudbury Nickel Barons became the first Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League club to reach five wins in the 2014-15 campaign after they doubled up the Blind River Beavers 6-3 Wednesday evening at McClelland Arena.
The Nickel Barons got on the board first as Lucas Toth notched his initial NOJHL goal at 2:25 of the opening period.
Blind River countered with the equalizer midway through the stanza as Matt Neault beat Sudbury starter Kevin Labelle for his initial tally of the campaign.
The home side retook the lead late in the frame as Christopher Rossi connected with just 13 seconds remaining to put the Nickel Barons up 2-1 after 20 minutes.
The second session saw Sudbury strike three times in an eight-minute span to take control of the contest.
Notching those markers were Joel Lemay and Danny Lepage at even strength along with Peter Poulin-Roy shorthanded.
Blind River added a man-down effort of their own late in the period as Neault picked up his second of the evening to make it 5-2 after two.
A couple of early tallies in the final frame added to the goal count with the Beavers’ Leo Lightning supplying one on the power play at 2:12 while Lemay answered back for the Nickel Barons just 24 seconds later to round out the scoring.
Jimmy Roy dished out a pair of assists to help Sudbury improve to 5-1 early in the season while Blind River fell to 0-2.
Kevin Labelle made 27 saves to record the victory for the Nickel Barons with Zach Mills facing 53 shots in defeat for the Beavers.
League play resumes Friday with four 7:30 p.m. starts as Abitibi hosts Kirkland Lake, Sault Ste. Marie entertains Powassan, Blind River travels to Elliot Lake and Cochrane welcomes Mattawa.