FRENCH RIVER – The Blind River Beavers saw Mattis Lafond and Ilian Danilov both tally twice as part of a 5-2 victory over the French River Rapids Sunday afternoon in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League matchup at Noelville Arena.
A fast-paced first period went without a goal as the clubs reached the initial intermission still in search of the day’s opening tally.
In the second stanza, the visiting Beavers cracked the goose egg at 12:14 when Armando Rojo-Bolton lifted a feed into the slot from below the goal line that Lafond collected and snapped past Rapids’ goalkeeper Ethan Madden.
More from Blind River later in the frame saw Danilov chip a play ahead in the neutral zone then dart down the left side with speed where he roofed a short-side sizzler at 17:25 for his eighth of the campaign.
A third in the session saw the Beavers click moments into a man advantage as Camden Cowan won a draw back to Danilov who skated to the middle and whipped in his second of the period.
French River countered quickly on the opening shift of the final frame and saw Nate Gervais collect his initial NOJHL tally when he jumped into the circle after Ty Berube won a face off and promptly fired it by Blind River netminder Brady Toulouse, who was making his NOJHL debut.
More from the Rapids two minutes later featured Cole McGuire roaring down the left wing where he wired a rising shot off the post and in to get them within one.
Answering back with some insurance while on the power play, Ryder Hill teed up Lafond up top where he pumped one in through bodies piled up out front for his second of the contest at 11:09.
The hosts did get Madden out late for an extra attacker in an effort to pull closer, however the Beavers’ Caleb Walker sealed the outcome with an empty netter to round out the scoring.
