Photos: Jeremy Seguin
FRENCH RIVER – The Blind River Beavers picked up a pair of goals from Joshua Thompson as part of a 4-2 decision over the French River Rapids Sunday in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League play at Noelville Arena.
Blind River needed just 77 seconds to open the scoring thanks to Thompson, who pushed the play ahead off a draw in his own zone, then darted down the right wing where he ripped a shot, blocker side, by Rapids’ starter Brady Dyer.
The Beavers then extended their lead 5:44 into the middle stanza after a faceoff, while on the power play, and saw Gavin Rocha make a nice move while making it look like he was going behind the net with the puck, but instead quickly fed an open Thompson, who snapped in his second of the contest.
French River did get one back past the half-way point of the proceedings thanks to Josh Russell finishing off a Jackson Doyle feed off a two-on-one in beating goalkeeper Charlie Burns.
Blind River countered quickly though and regained their two-tally edge as Jacob Kovacs clicked on a man advantage less than a minute later as he whipped a shot by Dyer from the high slot.
Moving to the final frame, the home side pulled closer in the late going as Jack Ginocchi banked a long stretch pass off the side boards that found a streaking Jordan Bax dashing down the ice who skated in alone on a breakaway and made a quick deke to his left and got by a challenging Burns before completing the play into the open net.
The guests capped off the win though in the final minute when Matthew Green cranked in a one-timer from between the circles to cap off the scoring.
The result sees the Beavers win their NOJHL-leading 10th game of the season on the road, which is one more than the Greater Sudbury Cubs and Timmins Rock.