SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. – The surging Blind River Beavers struck for nine goals Saturday to collect their 12th Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League victory in a row as they downed the Soo Eagles 9-2 at Pullar Stadium.
Taking early control, Blind River needed just 34 seconds to get on the board when Caleb Minns banked one in off the stick of a defender that had just enough to get past Sault Ste. Marie starter Reid Ramsay.
Responding with an equalizer near the four-minute mark, Zach Sweitzer picked up his first NOJHL goal as he drove hard to the net and finished off a Nolan Hendry cross-ice feed.
Minns however put the Beavers back in front at 12:01, with his 27th of the campaign, as he took a nice behind the net pass from Gavin Rocha before swatting it into the net.
The guests then came right back to notch another after Michael Gallagher was guided in alone and neatly picked the bottom left corner.
Rocha then sent Blind River to the dressing room up 4-1 after one as he put one into an empty net after Ramsay and a teammate got crossed up behind the net.
Opting for a goaltending change to begin the middle frame, Logan Raffaele entered the contest for the Soo, but Andrey Manov greeted him with a power play marker at 6:55 as he whipped one in from the right circle.
Continuing to press, Meguire Naughton worked his way free in front and ripped a shot off the crossbar and in a couple of shifts later.
Gavin Rozema got one back for the home side as he stuffed in a loose puck off a Hendry chance from between the hashmarks.
Going back up by five, Matthew Green made it 7-2 after 40 minutes when he managed to chip one over Raffaele from in close.
In the third, Blind River got goals from Jesse Dupuis, who completed some crisp puck movement in the Soo zone, and Evan Fraccaro, who potted one short side, to complete the romp as they moved to 37-10-2-2 on the year.
With the loss, the Soo fell to 21-24-4-1.