NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
NOJHL NETWORK MEDIA UPDATE
Release Date: Saturday, March 25, 2017
Rayside-Balfour wins 3rd straight to go up 3-2 in series vs. Blind River
BLIND RIVER, Ont. – Cayse Ton’s fourth goal of the playoffs with 4:06 remaining proved to be his second consecutive game-winner as the Rayside-Balfour Canadians edged the Blind River Beavers 4-2 Saturday in Game 5 of their Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League West Division semifinal at the Blind River Community Centre.
The victory was the Canadians third in succession in the match-up and they now lead this best-of-seven affair 3-2.
They will now have a chance to close out the series Sunday when they host Game 6 Sunday at 6:30 p.m. at Chelmsford Arena while the Beavers will look to force a Game 7 Tuesday in Blind River with a win.
After a scoreless opening 20 minutes, Jorge Perez’s first NOJHL postseason marker put the visitors up 1-0 just past the four-minute mark of the second period.
The Beavers then took advantage of consecutive power plays to first knot the affair at 1-1 thanks to Zak Lambrecht then go in front just 18 seconds later courtesy of Yianni Liarakos.
Rayside-Balfour drew level before the session was complete however as Logan Lefebvre tied it at 17:33.
Heading into the final frame, Tom proved to be the Canadians hero once again as he buried the eventual difference at 15:54.
He then iced it with an empty netter with 60 seconds left to finish off the victory.
Owen Johansson made 24 stops to post the win for the visitors while faced 41 shots in defeat for Blind River.
All NOJHL playoff games are streamed online at HockeyTV.com.
West Division semifinal
No. 2 Blind River Beavers vs. No. 3 Rayside-Balfour Canadians
Rayside-Balfour leads best-of-seven series 3-2
Game 1: Blind River 6 Rayside-Balfour 2
Game 2: Blind River 6 Rayside-Balfour 3
Game 3: Rayside-Balfour 4 Blind River 3 (OT)
Game 4: Rayside-Balfour 3 Blind River 2
Game 5: Rayside-Balfour 3 Blind River 2
Game 6: Sunday, March 26 @ Rayside-Balfour 6:30 p.m. (Chelmsford)
Game 7*: Tuesday, March 28 @ Blind River 7 p.m. (Community Centre)
*- if necessary
