Photos: Helene Rancourt
BLIND RIVER. Ont. – The Elliot Lake Red Wings saw Zachary Vickerman tally twice to help them defeat the Blind River Beavers 3-1 at the Blind River Community Centre
Saturday in snapping a lengthy Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League winless drought in the process.
Following a scoreless opening 20 minutes, Elliot Lake broke the deadlock nearly nine minutes into the session as Vickerman controlled a loose puck off a Ryan Daponte attempt from the point and proceeded to tuck it past Blind River goalkeeper Gavin Disano.
The Red Wings then went up by a pair a few shifts later courtesy of former Beavers’ forward Noah Aboflan, as he was the recipient of a turnover forced by teammate Evan Dantas, which left him plenty of time to pick the right-hand corner from the slot.
Moving to the third period, the Beavers capitalized on the power play with 3:14 remaining with Jacob Kovacs foiling Cameron Smith’s shutout bid.
However, Elliot Lake came back to secure the result and saw them collect their initial triumph of 2023, with an empty netter from Vickerman in the late going.
With the victory, the Red Wings raises their record to 13-23-1-2 while Blind River fell to 25-10-2-2.