GALLERY: Blind River holds off Espanola in goal-filled affair

BLIND RIVER, Ont. – The Blind River Beavers struck four times on the man advantage to help them eventually outlast the Espanola Express 6-5 in a goal-filled Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League matinee Sunday at the Blind River Community Centre.

Early power plays helped each side score once to get their clubs on the board before the contest was five minutes old.

Jakob Fahey’s gave the Express the lead at 2:48 only to see the Beavers answer a couple of shifts later as Caleb Serre tallied for a sixth straight outing with his league-leading eighth marker of the campaign.

Special teams saw Espanola add another just past the midway point of the first with Draper MacLean putting the guests on top once again.

Back and forth they went with Blind River answering once more to knot the affair at 2-2 with yet another extra-man effort as Nathan Balkwill picked up his second of the season at 16:02.

The home side then took their first lead in the waning moments of the period as Lucas Adams scored for a sixth time with the teams skating at even strength.

Coming out quickly in the middle stanza, the Beavers extended their lead at 1:55 with Devon Savignac notching his sixth with help from Adams who ran a modest point streak to four straight games.

The stayed 4-2 for the hosts into the third period, where Serre supplied the fifth power play marker of the day to put Blind River up by three.

Answering that was Cole Delarosbile for the Express as his first NOJHL goal as he brought the visitors to within two once more with 14:37 remaining.

It was more Espanola 12 and a half minutes into session as Fahey added another only to see Mauro connect for the Beavers’ fourth PPG in the game at 15:02.

Competing hard right to the end, the Express got one final marker off the stick Matais Salem to round out the offensive production.

Red-hot Serre finished with five points overall to give him a NOJHL-best 20 on the season while Adams had three assists to go with his goal.

Shots on goal in the contest ended up 39-37 in favour of Espanola with Jonathan Lemaire getting the win while Joel Rainville suffered the defeat.