Photos: Northern Exposures Photography
ELLIOT LAKE, Ont. – A Brodie Kearns tip-in tally midway through the third period, while his side was up a pair of skaters, proved to be the decider as the Elliot Lake Red Wings went on to defeat the Espanola Paper Kings 3-2 in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League affair Friday at Centennial Arena.
A good start for the home side saw Kaden Laverdiere put Elliot Lake in front just over four minutes into the proceedings as he came down the left wing and ripped one upstairs from the faceoff circle on Espanola starter Jake Marois.
Adding another past the midway point of the first period, the Red Wings’ Alex Antoine powered his way down the right side and put a crisp feed in front that was neatly redirected into the top righthand corner by the stick of Thomas Dimoulas.
Cutting into the deficit three minutes into the middle frame, Espanola forced a turnover behind the net which allowed Simon Rokhlin to fire a low sharp-angle shot from the right side that managed to get past Elliot Lake’s Sean Guerin for his first NOJHL goal.
Drawing level in the third, Kobe Braham put a shot on net that was stopped, but Yan Bessette was right there to collect the rebound and shovel it in past a sprawled Guerin at 7:41.
However, the Red Wings’ regrouped and got the game-winner from Kearns with half a period remaining as he tipped in a Zachary Vickerman attempt from the high slot after the home side moved the play around nicely during the two-man advantage.
There would be no further scoring the rest of the way and with the win, Elliot Lake raised their record to over .500 as they improved to 10-9-0-0 on the year.
With the loss, Espanola slipped to 9-7-1-2 overall.
