ESPANOLA, Ont. – Rayside-Balfour Canadians rookie Finoro Giordano erupted for five goals in his Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League debut Friday to pace his team to a 9-2 win over the Espanola Express at the Regional Recreation Complex.
Last season’s NOJHL rookie of the year Kyle Liinamaa collected the night’s opening tally for the Canadians 40 seconds into the contest.
Rayside-Balfour added another at 12:45 of the period when Giordano notched his first NOJHL marker at 12:45.
The Canadians kept coming and tacked on three more in the middle session starting with Ethan Lavalee’s initial league goal, which was followed by another Giordano later in the frame.
Espanola did get on the board two minutes later thanks to Cole Csorbay’s fourth of the campaign, but Giordano capped off his hat trick late in the frame to put Rayside-Balfour up 5-1 after 40 minutes.
After Tyler Bourassa scored for the first time in league play for the Express, 4:37 into the third, the visitors put it away by notching four more as Baldino Aiello and Darcy Winkler upped the cushion before Giordano wrapped up his epic night with two more goals to finish off his impressive evening.
Of note, three of Giordano’s tallies were shorthanded, including two with Rayside-Balfour down two-men late.
Jacob Patridge also had a solid night for Rayside-Balfour dishing out three assists along the way.
The Canadians outshot Espanola 50-34 with MacKenzie Savard earning the win and Jacob Hutchings the loss.
