Special teams powers Wildcats past Nickel Barons

NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE

NOJHL MEDIA UPDATE

Release Date: Friday, Oct. 31, 2014

Special teams powers Wildcats past Nickel Barons

ELLIOT LAKE – The Elliot Lake Wildcats rode the strength on five power play goals to help them blast the Sudbury Nickel Barons 6-1 Friday evening in a penalty-filled Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League affair at Centennial Arena.

Man advantage markers 12 seconds apart by Nathan Campbell and Tanner Bowditch staked the home side to an early lead.

They would extend their cushion with 30 seconds remaining in the opening frame as Adam Baxter connected at even strength to make it 3-0 Elliot Lake after one period of play.

Cole Hepler then made it 4-0 as he added an extra-man effort two minutes into the middle stanza before Kyle Fransen struck on the power play midway through the contest for Sudbury.

Countering, the Wildcats picked up two more via the man advantage late in the second courtesy of Elliot Lake defencemen Campbell and David Chiarelli to round out the night’s scoring.

Hepler added three assists to aid the offensive cause for his side while teammate Spencer MacLean doled out four helpers of his own.

Shots on goal favoured the Wildcats 44-32 with A.J. Smith picking up the win and Kevin Labelle the loss.

The result saw the Wildcats record improve to 11-4 while Sudbury fell to 11-4-0-2.

NOJHL action resumes Saturday as Blind River hosts Sault Ste. Marie while Mattawa heads to Iroquois Falls to take on Abitibi in a pair of 7:30 p.m. starts.