FRENCH RIVER – Striking three times in under a seven-minute span in the second period aided in a 5-1 win by the Blind River Beavers versus the French River Rapids in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League affair Thursday at Noelville Arena.
A late first period power play helped French River open the scoring in the final seconds when Armando Rojo Bolton took a pass from the corner, back to the point, where he settled the puck then moved to his left and whipped a shot through traffic that found the bottom right corner on Blind River netminder Mason Janicki.
Answering with an equalizer early in the middle stanza, the Beavers drew level moments into a man advantage when Camden Cowan took a feed from Leighton Hurst then darted into the left circle and wired an attempt that got through Rapids’ goalkeeper Matis Bureau-Morel at the 39-second mark.
Not done there, the visitors went in front a couple of shifts later when Shea Crewson put one towards the target that clipped off the glove of Bureau-Morel and flipped into the net.
Continuing to click offensively, Blind River made it 3-1 at 7:21 when Mattis Lafond wheeled down the side boards with speed then put a play into the crease that was initially stopped, but Wyatt Jarratt chipped in his own rebound.
Capping off the road victory in the final frame, Blind River bagged two more tallies to put it out of reach.
Jarratt made it 4-1 by spinning and slamming in a low shot following a face-off in the French River end.
The Beavers then capped off the night’s scoring when Caleb Walker snapped in a short-side effort after his side forced a turnover in Rapids’ territory.
With the triumph, Blind River improves to 2-5-0-1 on the season while winless French River falls to 0-6-0-0.
