Photos: Northern Lights Photography
HEARST, Ont. – The Hearst Lumberjacks got three goals from Henry Ouellet as part of an 8-3 triumph over the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners Friday in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League encounter at Claude Larose Recreation Centre.
Taking control early, Hearst helped themselves to a 2-0 lead in the opening couple of minutes in the contest.
Ouellet began his night for the Lumberjacks as he chipped one past Gold Miners’ starter Caleb Shuker from in close.
Then, recently acquired Chase Thompson scored in his Hearst debut by slamming in a spinning cross-crease pass from Damien Bourdon-Lemoyne.
Notching a third in the session, Hugo Allard came down the right wing and wired a wrister from a sharp angle past Shuker.
Kirkland Lake got on the board when Zachary Machoian intercepted a play in the neutral zone then darted into the Hearst zone where he snapped a sizzler past the blocker of netminder Alexandre Boivin at 8:18.
The score remained 3-1 for the hosts into the second stanza where the Gold Miners battled back to knot the affair.
Opting to shoot on a two-on-one, Mason Brownlee made no mistake by ripping one into the right corner at 3:30.
He then added another for the visitors while shorthanded as he darted down the ice, then blew past a defender, before wiring a short-side attempt by Boivin.
Retaking the lead at 15:22, Ouellet bagged his second of the night after being spotted by Don HeavenVeilleux driving down the slot and pumping the pass into the top right-hand corner.
In the third, Mathieu Comeau made it 5-3 early as he came out from below the goal line and stuffed in his 12th of the season.
Capitalizing on an extended power play, Ouellet finished off his hat trick by completing an Adam Shillinglaw feed.
Then, a Shillinglaw wrister from distance made it 7-3 before Keenan Quenneville converted from the slot to put the game out of reach in rounding out the scoring.
With the victory, it raises the Lumberjacks record to 18-6-0-1 while the setback sees the Gold Miners sink to 2-20-0-2.
The same two teams will meet again Saturday back in Hearst at 7:30 p.m.
