Photos: Gary Rosevear
HEARST, Ont. – Getting two goals apiece from Ty McKay and Chase Thompson helped the Hearst Lumberjacks skate past the Blind River Beavers 7-2 Saturday in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League encounter at Claude Larose Recreation Centre.
The Lumberjacks opened the scoring three and a half minutes into the contest when a spinning Ty Seymour fired a feed in front to a waiting Royce Abraham who pumped it into an open corner before Beavers’ starter Mason Janicki could get across his crease.
Coming back to tie it on a five-on-three, Blind River’s Ryder Hill used a slight toe drag then wired a shot from the slot that flew past Hearst netminder William Stonehouse.
Retaking the lead just after a power play they were on expired Cole Miller sent an attempt toward the target from up top that was redirected in by McKay at 11:08.
Adding another man advantage effort, Hearst took a 3-1 lead into the first intermission when Mathieu Comeau darted into Beavers’ zone and fed Thompson between the circles where he quickly whipped it in by Janicki.
The assist for Comeau give him points in 17 straight games, while with the tally, Thompson is now on a seven-game heater.
In the second period, the Lumberjacks’ wasted little time in making it 4-1 after Theo Bourdon-Lemoyne sent a pass across to Nathan Seed who swatted in his initial NOJHL goal.
Another extra-man effort from Thompson extended the Hearst cushion when he hammered in a Julien Trudel partial attempt that slid right to him.
They then went up by five before the completion of the session after McKay raced in alone and neatly tucked his chance between the legs of the Blind River goalkeeper.
The Beavers got one back while up a skater in the third as Hill notched his second of the evening by using a defender as a screen and wiring his chance past the blocker of Stonehouse at 4:36.
Capping off the scoring with a third power play tally on the evening, Comeau snapped a shot that clipped off Cole Shepherson and flew past Janicki, who had little chance on the attempt.
With the outcome, Hearst reaches the 20-win plateau, moving to 20-6-0-2 overall.
In defeat, Blind River sinks to 9-15-0-4.
