BLIND RIVER, Ont. – A couple of late third period tallies helped the Blind River Beavers pull out a 5-2 win over a persistent Kirkland Lake Gold Miners side Saturday in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League inter-divisional play at the Blind River Community Centre.
The Beavers began the proceedings on a positive note as Caleb Minns collected his 10th tally of the season, moments after getting hit with a shot from a teammate, but the limping forward persevered and saw a loose puck find him in the slot where he went upstairs over the glove of Kirkland Lake starter Ethan Barron at 2:47.
Pulling even five minutes into the second stanza, the Gold Miners came out quickly from their own zone and moved a play ahead to Benjamin Armatage, who dashed down the right wing where he fired the equalizer by Blind River netminder Gavin Disano.
Retaking the lead, midway through the match-up, the Beavers’ capitalized on a man advantage when Matthew Green fired a shot from up high that clipped off a defender and got by Barron.
They then went up by a pair two minutes later off a two-on-one where Gavin Rocha put a pass across to Nicholas Brady, who snapped one blocker side to make it 3-1 Blind River after two periods of play.
Action in the final frame saw the Gold Miners get right back in it after controlling a draw and saw John-Paul Scaringi put an attempt on net that was stopped by the pad of Disano, but Nolan Rosko-Fong was right there to snag the rebound and tuck in his first NOJHL goal with a nice backhand into the open side with a half a period to play.
Special teams helped the Beavers pick up some insurance with 4:46 remaining as Evan Fraccaro clicked on a power play by jamming one under the goalkeeper’s glove following some crisp puck movement by his club.
Building on that on the next shift, Henry Attard notched his initial league tally by lifting one from the right point that sailed past a couple of defenders and a screened Barron to cap off the night’s scoring and secure the home ice triumph for Blind River.
