Photos: Hélène Rancourt
BLIND RIVER, Ont. – An impressive end-to-end dash up the ice by Jonah McIndoo saw him wire in the game-winner, 43 seconds into overtime, as part of a narrow 2-1 victory by the Blind River Beavers over the Soo Thunderbirds in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest Saturday at the Blind River Community Centre.
A friendly bounce off the end boards helped the Beavers get on the board first at 16:03 when a Caleb Walker dump in skipped right out in front of the net were a waiting Gibson Baker lifted a backhand over Thunderbirds’ netminder Nathan Maguire.
Scoring in his NOJHL debut, three and a half minutes into the second stanza, Sault Ste. Marie’s Drew Christian began a rush up-ice then worked a nice give-and-go with teammate Deven Jones-McDonald and snapped a shot in close over the pad of a stretched out Mason Janicki in the crease.
That proved to be the lone tally of the session as the clubs went to their respective dressing rooms and the intermission still knotted at 1-1.
In the third period, neither team found the back of the net to earn themselves a point apiece by heading to OT.
Skating three aside in the extra session, McIndoo corralled a loose puck behind his own goal line then proceeded to wheel ahead with pace and while driving down the slot ripped a rising sizzler off the point and in to secure the home-ice triumph for Blind River.
With the outcome, the Beavers win their second straight while improving to 3-5-0-1 on the season.
In defeat, the Soo got a point in dropping to 4-2-0-1 overall.
