Alaverdy shines as Espanola derails Elliot Lake

NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE

NOJHL NETWORK MEDIA UPDATE

Release Date: Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016

Alaverdy shines as Espanola derails Elliot Lake

ELLIOT LAKE, Ont. – The Espanola Express rode the 46-save performance of goaltender Kyle Alaverdy to help them derail the Elliot Lake Wildcats 4-2 Sunday evening in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League West Division matchup at Centennial Arena.

An early power play allowed Espanola to take the lead 88 seconds into the contest as Dominik Lavergne picked up his eighth goal of the season.

The visitors then made 2-0 at the 8:06 mark of the first when Patrick Smith finished off the work of Lavergne and Colton Sandboe.

It stayed that way until there was just under five minutes left in the second stanza when the Wildcats converted during a two-man advantage to pull within one compliments of Brett Jacklin’s sixth tally of 2016-17.

Moving into the third period, Riley Smith provided some insurance and the eventual game-winner for the Express with eight and a half minutes to go in regulation.

Elliot Lake made it interesting at the 16:16 mark as they picked up their second power play effort of the night as Mack Caruana beat Alaverdy.

The Wildcats would then pull their netminder, Justin Richer, late in favour of an extra attacker in an effort to tie it and force overtime, but Thomas Hayden sealed the win for Espanola with an empty netter in the final seconds to round out the scoring.

Lavergne and Smith both finished up with three points each in the Express victory.

Alaverdy earned the decision in goal while Richer faced 29 attempts in defeat for Elliot Lake.

With the result Espanola improved to 5-10-0-1 on the season and the Wildcats slipped to 8-10-0-0 overall.