GALLERY: Beavers clinch playoff spot with triumph vs. Eagles

Photos: Helene Rancourt

BLIND RIVER, Ont. – The Blind River Beavers continued their winning ways Saturday night as they downed the Soo Eagles 7-2 to come away with their ninth consecutive victory as well as clinch a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League playoff spot at the Blind River Community Centre.

Blind River started strong, skating out to a 2-0 lead before the game was six minutes old.

Joshua Thompson began the scoring for the Beavers after taking a pass from Jacob Kovacs and snapping it past Sault Ste. Marie starter Kameron Ragon.

The home side then added another right after that thanks to Caleb Minns collecting his 25th tally of the campaign as he darted in alone on a clear-cut breakaway and fired a shot high over the blocker of Ragon.

Not done there, Blind River tacked on two more late in the period to take a 4-0 cushion into the intermission.

Andrey Manov, on the power play, at 17:28 provided the third tally as he put one through a screen from the top of the right circle.

They then saw Evan Fraccaro convert 33 seconds later as he dangled around a number of Eagles defenders before putting one over the pad of Ragon.

On the man advantage early in the middle frame, the Beavers went up by five as Jack Robinson drove around a defender while going hard to the net where he tucked a backhand through the legs of Ragon.

Getting on the board later in the period, the Soo’s Caleb Cordas sent a shot towards the net from the left point that was tipped in by Alex Freund, in beating goalkeeper Charlie Burns.

The Eagles came right back and got another less than a minute later when Jack Mortson picked up his team-leading 25th as his converted from close range after being left unguarded in front.

Responding, Blind River got those two back to make it 7-2 after 40 minutes.

After Kovacs connected at 12:42 by shovelling one past Ragon, Jesse Dupuis worked his way free and slid it past Logan Raffaele who had come in to replace Ragon.

Third period play saw neither side add any more markers as the Beavers cruised to the home ice triumph.

The win sees Blind River move to 34-10-2-2 on the season while the Eagles dropped to 21-21-4-1 overall.