Photos: Northern Lights Photography
HEARST, Ont. – Tyler Patterson scored four times and the Hearst Lumberjacks broke open a tie game with five unanswered tallies to defeat the Blind River Beavers 8-3 Saturday in a penalty-filled Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest at Claude Larose Recreation Centre.
Blind River began the scoring when Shea Crewson got in behind the Hearst defence and went in alone on netminder Owen Bonthuis where he made a nice move to his left and neatly tucked in a backhand, three and a half minutes into the match-up.
Up a skater midway through the first, Patterson tied it for Hearst as he tipped in an Adam Shillinglaw attempt to the target that came from the left point.
Trading markers before the first intermission, Jonah McIndoo put the Beavers back in front at 16:44 by cranking in a one-timer, only to see Ty McKay collect his initial NOJHL goal as he knocked down a William Pâquet chance and put it past Thomas.
Heading to the second stanza, an early injury to Thomas resulted in Connor Dunham-Fox coming in to man the net for Blind River.
The guests retook the lead off a three-on-one that saw Levi Lux rip a shot off the post, then have Wyatt Gibson bang in the puck that rang off the iron.
Knotting the affair on a five-on-three, Damien Bourdon-Lemoyne finished off a wild-scramble in front with his 12th of the campaign.
Still on the power play, the Lumberjacks took their first lead at 7:15 as Patterson jammed in the frozen rubber laying on the goal line.
Riding their momentum, McKay notched another less than a minute later by wiring one in from the left circle.
A third off the stick of Patterson made it 6-3 after 40 minutes as he finished off a Mathieu Comeau feed on an odd-man rush.
Wrapping up the victory in the frame, Comeau clicked in-close, while Patterson potted a fourth on the night to close out the scoring.
The win lifts Hearst’s record to 17-6-0-1 and in defeat, Blind River slipped to 15-8-1-0.
