Gerads great as Gold Miners blank Eskis in quarter-final opener

NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE

NOJHL NETWORK MEDIA UPDATE

Release Date: Friday, March 10, 2017

Gerads great as Gold Miners blank Eskis in quarter-final opener

KIRKLAND LAKE, Ont. – Kirkland Lake Gold Miners goaltender Ridge Gerads stopped all 36 shots he faced in his Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League playoff debut Friday to shutout the Iroquois Falls Eskis 4-0 in Game 1 of their best-of-three East Division quarter-final at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex.

Gerads started strong handling all 16 attempts the Eskis fired his way in the first period with Iroquois Falls starter Trevor Hawkes making 12 saves in his end of the ice.

The Gold Miners would open the scoring midway through the contest as Tyler Fyfe buried the eventual game-winner.

Patrick Smith added to Kirkland Lake lead three minutes later, to help the home side carry a two-goal cushion into the final frame.

Holding a power play into the third, Alex Storjohann made it 3-0 with a man advantage marker 35 seconds into the stanza.

Gunnar Wegleitner then wrapped up the scoring at 10:06 with the Eskis opting to replace Hawkes after that in favour of back-up Ty Sparling the rest of the way.

Hawkes faced 34 shots in defeat for Iroquois Falls while Sparling handled all three attempts he saw in relief.

The series resumes Sunday afternoon with a 2 p.m. start at Jus Jordan Arena in Iroquois Falls.

Kirkland Lake leads best-of-three series 1-0
Game 1: Kirkland Lake 4 Iroquois Falls 0
Game 2: Sunday, March 12 @ Iroquois Falls 2 p.m. (Jus Jordan Arena)
Game 3*: Tuesday, March 14 @ Kirkland Lake 7:30 p.m. (Joe Mavrinac Community Complex)
*- if necessary