BLIND RIVER, Ont. – The hometown Blind River Beavers picked up tallies from four different skaters to help propel them to a 4-1 victory over the Espanola Express in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League play Sunday afternoon at the Blind River Community Centre.
Picking up a late two-man advantage deep into the first period, the Beavers’ opened the scoring at 19:16 when Caleb Minns calmly inched forward in the left face off circle and promptly ripped a shot over the shoulder of Espanola start Patrick Boivin.
Picking up a penalty shot 14 seconds into the middle stanza, Espanola had a great chance to tie it, but Beavers’ netminder Jeremi Delaquis was equal to the task on a Kobe Braham attempt.
The Express came right back though moments later as Josh Boucher banged one in in to level the proceedings, as he used some crafty stick work in the slot while dancing around a pair of Blind River defenders.
However, the hosts countered with tallies in quick order midway through the period off the sticks of Jackson Barnes and Ethan Pegg to put the home side up 3-1 with half a game to go.
Midway through the third, Blind River’s Chase Heckerson rounded out the scoring as he zipped one through a crowd from the right point that resulted in his initial NOJHL tally.
Delaquis made 22 saves, including a second period penalty shot, to record the win while Boivin faced 55 attempts in defeat.