Coming off a 4 – 0 shutout win on September 25th against the French River Rapids, the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners hosted the Rayside Balfour Canadians at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action 24 hours later.
Jamey Lauzon sank the opening goal at 13:19 of the first for the Gold Miners to give Kirkland Lake a 1 – 0 lead with assists from Marc-Antoine Arseneau and Brayden Stortz. Sinking his second of the season, Gold Miner Dalton Anderson gave Kirkland Lake a 2 – 0 lead with a goal behind Canadian netminder Kevin Labelle at 13:58 of the first. Joel Fortin and Jamey Lauzon added the helpers on Anderson’s goal.
Giving the hosts a 3 – 0 lead at 16:09 of the first on an unassisted goal for the Gold Miners was rookie Cory Bussing. With 52 seconds left in the first, Evan Bidenti set up forward Maxime Choquette for his second of the 2015 – 2016 season. Scoring Kirkland Lake’s sixth goal of the season, Logan Fredericks gave the Gold Miners a 5 – 0 lead at 7:11 of the second period with contributors from Bidenti and Choquette.
With Maxime Choquette in the penalty box for tripping, Rayside Balfour scored their first goal of the game on a Canadian power play with Ryan Erickson sinking a goal behind Kirkland Lake’s Marc Audet at 11:38 of the third. Ned Simpson and Bradley Chenier added the assists on Erickson’s goal. With 1:21 left in the game, Brett Whitehead brought the game within three for the Canadians with assists from Joel Lemay and Ned Simpson.
With the 5 – 2 win, the Gold Miners improve to 5 – 1 on the season.
On October 1st, the 3 – 4 – 1 Blind River Beavers will come into the Kirkland Lake at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex to face the Gold Miners at 7:30 p.m.
