BLIND RIVER, Ont. – A four-goal first period was all the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners required to help them skate past the Blind River Beavers 4-1 in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League encounter Sunday afternoon at the Blind River Community Centre.
Kirkland Lake clicked quickly in this one as Joshua Maine opened the day’s scoring 20 seconds into the contest with his 11th tally of the season.
The Gold Miners power play helped them tack on two more markers later in the session as Gabriel LeBlanc and Maine again connected via the man advantage to make it 3-0.
However, the visitors weren’t quite done as they finished off their offensive outburst at 18:46 with Hunter Foreshew extending the Kirkland Lake cushion.
Up a skater themselves, past the midway mark of the contest, Blind River got one back on Caleb Serre’s 24th goal of the season with help from Ryan Mulligan and Nathan Balkwill.
That would however turn out to be the game’s final tally as the Gold Miners finished off a solid 2-0-1 weekend road trip.
Maine also added an assist for a three-point performance while Matthew Brassard dished out a pair of helpers to aid the winner’s cause.
The Beavers did hold the edge in shots on goal by a 43-20 margin with Dawson Rodin making 42 saves to earn the victory.
Jackson Hjelle started for Blind River and suffered the loss allowing two against on six attempts while Garret Boyonoski handled 12 of 14 in over 46 minutes of relief.
Game Photos courtesy of Crystal Serré
