Wildcats push Canadians to the brink with Game 3 triumph

NOJHL NETWORK MEDIA UPDATE

Release Date: Monday, March 21, 2016

Wildcats push Canadians to the brink with Game 3 triumph

ELLIOT LAKE, Ont. – The Elliot Lake Wildcats got the go ahead goal from Artur Terchiyev with 7:08 remaining to pull out a 4-3 victory over the Rayside-Balfour Canadians Monday evening in Game 3 of their Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League West Division semifinal at Centennial Arena.

With the triumph, Elliot Lake now leads the best-of-seven series 3-0 and has now pushed the Canadians to the brink of elimination and forced them into a must-win Game 4, which goes Wednesday at Chelmsford Arena at 7:30 p.m.

Rayside-Balfour did get off to a positive start needing only 52 seconds to notch the night’s opening tally as Otis Goldman scored his second of the series.

Elliot Lake countered with the equalizer however 13:03 into the session as Cole Helper collected his third of the playoffs to knot the affair through one period of play.

The visitors regained the lead six and a half minutes into the middle stanza while on the power play as the NOJHL’s top defenceman award winner Kyle Fransen beat Wildcats starter Aaron Mackay.

The Wildcats came back to tie for a second time as Connor Rider’s effort eluded Canadians goalkeeper MacKenzie Savard at 11:43 during a man advantage opportunity.

It was then Elliot Lake’s turn to go in front as Hepler added another power play marker at 14:24 as they carried a 3-2 margin into the third.

The back-and-forth affair swung back to into a tie game near the five-minute mark of the period as the Canadians Makenzie MacMillan tied things up for a third time.

Jessie Morin came in to tend goal for Rayside-Balfour in favour of Savard.

It remained deadlocked at 3-3 until Terchiyev notched the game-winner beating Morin to give Elliot Lake the commanding series lead.

Spencer MacLean had a big night offensively for the Wildcats as he doled out three assists in the decision.

Mackay was busy making 40 saves in recording his third straight win of the series.

Savard saved 26 of the 29 attempts he saw while Morin suffered the loss in relief handling 10 of the 11 shots he handled.

West Division semifinal
No. 2 Elliot Lake Wildcats vs. No. 3 Rayside-Balfour Canadians
Elliot Lake leads best-of-seven series 3-0

Game 1: Elliot Lake 3 Rayside-Balfour 0
Game 2: Elliot Lake 5 Rayside-Balfour 4 (OT)
Game 3: Elliot Lake 4 Rayside-Balfour 3
Game 4: Wednesday, March 23 @ Rayside-Balfour 7:30 p.m. (Chelmsford)
Game 5*: Thursday, March 24 @ Elliot Lake 7:30 p.m. (Centennial)
Game 6*: Saturday, March 26 @ Rayside-Balfour 7:30 p.m. (Chelmsford)
Game 7*: Tuesday, March 29 @ Elliot Lake 7:30 p.m. (Centennial)
*-if necessary