Photos: Helene Rancourt
BLIND RIVER, Ont. – Notching a milestone marker, Owen King collected his Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League-leading 50th goal of the season, as part of a 6-2 triumph by the Blind River Beavers over the French River Rapids in a Sunday matinee at the Blind River Recreation Centre.
With the victory, Blind River secures the No. 3 seed in the upcoming playoffs and will likely face the Soo Thunderbirds in the opening round of the postseason.
Wasting little time in scoring his 50th of the campaign, King redirected a point attempt from A.J. Saadeh past French River starter Brock Grein, 68 seconds into the contest.
With the tally, King becomes the first 50-goal scorer in the NOJHL since Brady Harroun bagged as many for the Timmins Rock back during the 2022-23 campaign.
Answering with an equalizer during a man advantage, Dominic Bzdyl drew the Rapids level at 15:24 when he banked in a backhand from below the goal line off of Blind River netminder Connor Dunham-Fox.
Moving to the middle frame, the home side retook the lead for good, midway through the match-up, with tallies 51 seconds apart.
Jonah McIndoo made it 2-1 after taking a cross-ice pass from Rylan Gibbs and whipping it past Grein.
Right after that, YiBin Yoo batted one out of mid-air after Ryder Hill lifted the puck into the crease from in deep.
Extending their edge early in the final frame, Yoo was spotted driving down the slot by Hill and quickly buried his second of the day.
Helping put the game away, the Beavers’ Keenan Conn connected during a power play by putting an attempt off a defender from a sharp angle and in.
A nifty individual effort by French River’s Sergei Suschenko saw him wheel up-ice and after moving around a couple of Blind River players, wired a shot past Dunham-Fox.
Answering that right off the draw, McIndoo bagged his second of the contest by firing one in from between the circles to round out the scoring and finalize the result.
