Sunday sees Beavers surprise Trappers and Bobcats bounce Gold Miners

NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE

NOJHL COMMUNICATIONS
MEDIA RELEASE

Release Date: Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013

Sunday sees Beavers surprise Trappers and Bobcats bounce Gold Miners

SUDBURY – The parody displayed in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League so far this season was once again prevalent Sunday afternoon as the Blind River Beavers surprised the North Bay Trappers 5-2 while the Elliot Lake Bobcats upended the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners 6-3.

BLIND RIVER BEAVERS 5 NORTH BAY TRAPPERS 2 – At North Bay, the visiting Beavers put an end to the Trappers seven-game winning streak as they got a pair of goals and an assist from Brandon Bazinet to lead them to victory.

After Trevor Hunt opened the scoring for the home side 6:18 into the contest, Blind River responded with a pair of tallies from Samuel Wilbur to take a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.

A Bazinet man advantage marker early in the second extended the cushion before Stephen Langford found the back of the net late in the stanza to make in 3-2 after two periods of play.

The Beavers finished off the upset in the final frame thanks to Bazinet’s second of the day and a single by Tyson MacLeod.

Travis Jones and Adam Newkirk each picked up a pair of assists to aid Blind River’s offensive cause.

Brock Crossthwaite made 35 stops to register the win for the Beavers who improved to 12-23-2-5 on the year.

Greg Dodds had 34 saves in a losing cause as his side fell to 28-7-3-3 coming up short in the opportunity to jump into sole possession of first place in the league standings ahead of the Soo Thunderbirds.

ELLIOT LAKE BOBCATS 6 KIRKLAND LAKE GOLD MINERS 3 – Elliot Lake moved into a tie for sixth place in the NOJHL standings in a win in which they scored four times in the third period to pull out the triumph.

After a scoreless opening period each side found the back of the net twice in the middle stanza with Nicholas Tassone and Brian Hennessey scoring for the Bobcats while Jean-Francois Sylvester and Connor McNally countered for the Gold Miners.

A pair of Dustin Cordeiro markers 62 seconds apart midway through the final frame put Elliot Lake on top for good.

Dustin Jesseau pulled Kirkland Lake to within 4-3 with 6:35 to go, but the Bobcats’ Tassone finished off a hat-trick by striking twice in the late stages, including an empty-net effort with eight seconds to go to round out the scoring in the contest.

Cordeiro also picked up a pair of helpers to finish up with a four-point afternoon.

Cory Simic was solid in making 40 saves in picking up the win as his side improved to 12-28-0-2 overall joining Abitibi in sixth spot in the standings on 26 points apiece.

Marc Audet started for the Gold Miners and suffered the loss in nearly 50 minutes of action allowing four goals on 24 shots.

Chris Komma turned aside four of five in relief.

NOJHL play resumes Wednesday on two fronts as Abitibi hosts Kirkland Lake while Sudbury entertains North Bay in a pair of 7:30 p.m. starts.