ESPANOLA, Ont. – Answering back from a pair of three-tally deficits, the French River Rapids rallied to salvage a 4-4 overtime draw against the Espanola Paper Kings in a thrilling Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League Sunday matinee at the Regional Recreation Complex.
An early power play helped Espanola open the scoring as Kaden Wicklander drove into the French River end down the right side and while moving to the slot, whipped a shot through Rapids’ starter Carter Vicente at 3:47.
A turnover a few minutes later allowed Cameron Menard to skate uncontested to the net where he took a play wide and lifted in a backhand for his team-leading 14th goal of the season.
That resulted in a goaltending change, with Brock Grein entering in long relief for the Rapids.
In the second period, Espanola went ahead by three when Ashton Pitawanakwat chipped a play past a defender and went down ice on a two-on-one, where he elected to shoot and neatly picked the short side corner at 4:06.
Alexandre Dubuc got one back for French River midway through the proceedings, only to see Grant Booth counter for the Paper Kings just over a minute later.
Battling from behind, the Rapids notched a pair of man advantage markers to make it a one-goal game after two.
Scoring in a fourth straight contest, Hunter Vilanez made it 4-2 before Tucker Roberts slammed in a rebound off a Vilanez chance at 19:37 into the open side on Espanola’s James Meredith.
In the third, French River drew level off a turnover which allowed Vilanez to dart in alone while his club was shorthanded and wire in an attempt, blocker side, at 4:49.
Staying even into OT, the Paper Kings pressed the pace for much of it, but could not solve Grein.
Then in the final minute, both teams had glorious opportunities to win, including Grein thwarting Grant Booth on an end-to-end breakaway with a tremendous pad save.
In the end, the clubs settled for the tie to pick-up one point apiece in the standings.
With the result, Espanola’s record went to 7-8-2-0 while French River moved to 5-8-1-2.
