NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
NOJHL COMMUNICATIONS
MEDIA RELEASE
Release Date: Friday, Dec. 14, 2012
North Bay, Kirkland Lake and Sudbury all win Friday
SUDBURY – A shutout and a couple of three-goal games were among the highlights Friday in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League.
NORTH BAY TRAPPERS 7 BLIND RIVER BEAVERS 3 – A Cole Klippenstein hat-trick was part of a six-goal second period by the Trappers as they skated to the home ice victory over the Beavers.
Blind River jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead on markers by Samuel Wilbur and newcomer Travis Jones, who was suiting up in his first game with the club.
North Bay gained some momentum late in opening session by scoring with just one second remaining courtesy of Stephen Langford.
The Trappers came out revitalized by Langford’s late tally exploding for the six goals in the middle period.
Along with the three scored by Klippenstein, North Bay also got markers from Trevor Hunt, Daniel Carter and Corbin Bean.
Jones had his second of the night for the Beavers as well.
Greg Dodds finished up with 24 stops to pick up his league-leading 14th win of the year as North Bay improved to 18-3-2-3 on the season.
Aaron Cormier faced 36 shots in a losing cause for Blind River who fell to 5-16-2-4.
KIRKLAND LAKE GOLD MINERS 2 SOO THUNDERBIRDS 0 – Chris Komma turned aside all 19 shots he faced to help back stop the Gold Miners to the shutout win over Sault Ste. Marie.
Following a scoreless opening period, Steve Babin buried the eventual game-winner, on the power play, past Joel Horodziejczyk in the Thunderbirds net 7:54 into the second period.
A man advantage marker by Kirkland Lake captain Connor McNally extended the cushion later in the session to round out the scoring.
The Gold Miners ran their record to 14-11-2-1 with the triumph.
Horodziejczyk saw 28 pucks in a losing cause for the Soo who dropped into second place in the NOJHL standings at 18-4-2-2, one point behind North Bay.
SUDBURY NICKEL BARONS 5 ELLIOT LAKE BOBCATS 1 – The NOJHL’s leading point producer in Sebastien Leroux scored three times and assisted on another to lead Sudbury to their third win in a row, a 5-1 decision over Elliot Lake.
Neither team would find the back of the net in the opening frame in a scoreless first period.
In the second Leroux struck 35 seconds into the stanza and added another sandwiched around a Justin Bell effort to put the Nickel Barons up 3-0 after 40 minutes.
Elliot Lake dashed Michael Muzyka’s shutout bid early in the final period as Dustin Cordeiro converted on a penalty shot at 2:58.
Leroux capped off his hat-trick minutes later and the set-up Martin Jolicoeur for some insurance with a power play goal at 5:37 to round out the scoring. Leroux ran his league-high point total to 53, including 17 tallies.
Muzyka finished up with 26 saves to register the win for Sudbury’s third straight triumph raising their record to 16-11.
Cory Simic was pelted with 52 shots in a losing cause for the Bobcats who slipped to 7-18-0-1.
NOJHL action continues Saturday with Sault Ste. Marie in Iroquois Falls to meet Abitibi while Sudbury pays a visit to Blind River. Both contests get underway at 7:30 p.m.
