NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
Release Date: Friday, Feb. 8, 2013
Friday features return to Espanola and wins by Trappers, Gold Miners and Bobcats
SUDBURY – A trio of Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contests Friday evening saw North Bay edge Blind River in a game played in Espanola while Kirkland Lake and Elliot Lake skated to home ice victories over Sudbury and Abitibi respectively.
NORTH BAY TRAPPERS 3 BLIND RIVER BEAVERS 2 – A large crowd was on hand at the Espanola Regional Recreation Complex to witness the Trappers narrow victory over the Beavers in a neutral site affair.
Special teams allowed Blind River to take the early lead as Tyler Brown scored on the power play at 15:26 of the opening period.
North Bay responded in the late stages of the stanza however with tallies from Cole Klippenstein to tie it and then take the lead courtesy of Beau Orser.
The lone effort of the middle frame came off the stick the Trappers’ Samuel Blanchet at the 15:17 mark in what proved to be the game-winner.
Samuel Wilbur made it interesting with an unassisted effort early in the third, but Blind River could not get any closer as time expired.
Greg Dodds made 33 saves to pick up the win in net for North Bay who raised their record to 25-6-3-3 on the season.
Brock Crossthwaite was equally as solid making 38 stops for the Beavers who slipped to 10-23-2-4 with the setback.
KIRKLAND LAKE GOLD MINERS 4 SUDBURY NICKEL BARONS 1 – The Gold Miners got two power play tallies and an assist from Steve Babin to help lead them past the Nickel Barons.
Jonathon Dionne opened the scoring for Kirkland Lake 12:45 into the contest with the only marker of the opening period.
After August Jarecki levelled the proceedings midway through the middle session Tanner Lafrance put the home side on top once again as he notched the eventual game-winner at 13:32.
Babin fired his first man advantage effort before the stanza was complete to make it 3-1 after 40 minutes before finishing off the night’s scoring in the early stages of the third with power play goal No. 2.
Chris Komma made 18 saves to pick up the win for the Gold Miners who improved to 21-16-2-1.
Michael Muzyka faced 27 shots in a losing cause for Sudbury who slipped to 25-14.
ELLIOT LAKE BOBCATS 5 ABITIBI ESKIMOS 3 – Henry Berger had a pair of goals and set-up another helping the Bobcats win for the third time in five outings.
Elliot Lake took a 3-2 lead after one period of play with Berger, Brian Hennessey and Nicholas Tassone scoring for the Bobcats while Ben Miller and Zach Inness countered for the Eskimos.
Abitibi’s Innes tied things up via the power play four minutes into the second to square the affair heading into the final frame.
Jared McIlroy-Walker slammed home the game-winner 5:31 into the last stanza before Berger added some insurance a minute and a half later to wrap things up.
Cory Simic turned aside 35 attempts in picking up the win helping the Bobcats improve to 11-26-0-2.
Jackson Winkler was peppered with 43 shots in a losing cause as the Eskimos fell to 12-22-0-2 on the campaign.