Photos: Northern Exposures Photography
ELLIOT LAKE, Ont. – The Elliot Lake Red Wings saw Evan Dantas tally twice and Cameron Smith post the shutout as they rolled past the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners 6-0 Friday evening in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League play at Centennial Arena.
Elliot Lake opened the scoring off an odd-man rush where Sam Noad went to the net and stuffed in a loose puck with help from Alex Antoine and Dantas.
Adding another during a man advantage late in the first period, Cameron Dial sent a shot towards the net from the point that was neatly redirected in by Adam Matar at 18:17.
Moving to the middle stanza, the Red Wings’ power play clicked once again when Ethan Mercer moved in from the left side, then made a nice cross-ice pass across to Dantas, who quickly hammered a one-timer past Gold Miners’ goal keeper Braydon Garnhart at 4:03.
Breaking it open, Elliot Lake tacked on two more to take a 5-0 lead to the second intermission.
Their fourth came about after keeping the play in the Kirkland Lake zone and getting it over to Thomas Dimoulas, who had time to lift one over the glove of Garnhart.
The hosts then capped off the period with Silas Crawford striking from close range at 16:41.
Completing the home ice victory in the third, Noad forced a turnover and put it into the slot where a waiting Dantas whipped it upstairs for his second of the night at 7:50 of the final frame.
The shutout for Smith was his third of the season, helping the Red Wings improve to 18-34-1-2 overall.
With the loss, the Gold Miners dropped to 7-46-1-1.
“Highlight of the Night” – NOJHL YouTube Channel
