Photos: Northern Exposures Photography
ELLIOT LAKE, Ont. – Storming back from an early deficit, the Elliot Lake Red Wings countered with five unanswered markers to pull out a 5-2 come from behind triumph over the Soo Egles Saturday in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League match-up at Centennial Arena.
Sault Ste. Marie benefitted from a costly giveaway by an Elliot Lake defender as his clearing attempt went right to the Soo’s Teig Driessen in the slot then saw him move in a put one under the pad to Red Wings’ netminder Sean Guerin, nearly 16 minutes into the proceedings.
The Eagles came right back and notched another off a draw that saw Jack Mortson win the face-off back to Chase Tallaire, who picked the glove-side corner through a partial screen.
Roaring back in the second stanza, Elliot Lake responded with four goals in just over an 11-minute span to take the lead.
Ryan Daponte got the first one for his side as he tucked in a low backhand past Soo starter Reid Ramsay.
They then saw Nick Aboflan tie it at 4:43 as Ramsay got caught out of his net on a hard dump in that left the Elliot Lake forward plenty of space to score.
Building on that, Evan Dantas notched his 20th of the season for the Red Wings a couple of shifts later as he knocked in a loose puck off a goal-mouth scramble.
A fourth straight marker made it 4-2 for the hosts when Silas Crawford supplied his 19th of the campaign after being left wide-open in front of the net and converting on his chance.
An opportunity for a fifth in a row came after Ethan Mercer was impeded on a break and awarded a penalty shot.
On his attempt though he was stymied by a solid save by Ramsay to keep it 4-2 after 40 minutes.
The Red Wings did get their fifth early in the third as Dantas swooped in on a loose puck and chipped it it over Ramsay for his second of the night and 21st overall.
There would be no further scoring in the contest and saw Elliot Lake conclude their 2022-23 campaign with a record of 20-35-1-2.
As for the Eagles, the season-ending loss sees them finish-up at 26-27-4-1.