ELLIOT LAKE, Ont. – Josh Tomasi tallied twice, including collecting the eventual game winner, as the Elliot Lake Red Wings went on to defeat the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners 6-2 in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League get together Saturday afternoon at Centennial Arena.
Elliot Lake got things going offensively half way through the opening frame, after transitioning in the neutral zone, then saw Kaden Laverdiere slide a pass over to Kjell Osborne, who notched his first NOJHL goal by snapping a shot from the left side that beat Gold Miners’ starter Zachary Reddy.
Adding another before the intermission, Sam Noad made it 2-0 at 14:42 as he roofed one from a sharp angle while darting down the right wing.
In the second stanza, the Red Wings’ power play converted just over eight minutes in with Tomasi wiring one, short side, from the left circle.
Extending their cushion, the home side went up by four as they broke out of the own zone and saw them speed up the ice with Cameron Dial finishing off a give-and-go with Owen Lancaster.
Kirkland Lake did get one back, less than a minute later, thanks to Jacob Hiltz lifting a shot over the blocker of goaltender Colton Donaldson, after taking a crisp cross-ice feed from Chance DeBolt, which allowed him to drive to the net.
Hiltz then added another for the guests as he took a drop pass from Samuel De Mauro and whipped another shot that got past Donaldson.
However, Elliot Lake’s Brock McNaughton swiped the puck off a defender in the final moments of the second and quickly zipped an attempt over Reddy’s blocker to make it a 5-2 game after two.
In the third, Tomasi put the game away as he notched his second of the day, and ninth on the campaign, after tucking in the rebound off a Calum McGill blast from the right point at 9:25.
The win for Donaldson was his first of the season, helping the Red Wings move three points up on Espanola in the race for the final playoff spot in the NOJHL’s West Division.
As for Reddy he was busy in defeat for Kirkland Lake, being credited with over 35 saves for an eighth time in 2021-22.
