Photos: Allyson Demers
KIRKLAND LAKE, Ont. – A pair of second period power play goals from Cole Shepherdson helped send the Hearst Lumberjacks on their way to a 6-2 triumph versus the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners Saturday in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League play at Joe Mavrinac Community Complex.
A solid start to the night saw the Gold Miners strike first when Isaiah Allen broke out of own zone and after skating into the Lumberjacks zone, he used a defender as a screen and snapped a shot past the blocker of netminder William Stonehouse 2:24 into the contest.
Hearst came back to tie it three and a half minutes later as Mavrik Chan-Miguel led a rush up-ice, then cut around a Kirkland Lake defenceman and went to the net where he lifted his chance by goalkeeper Glen McInnes as he scored for a third straight outing.
The visitors then went in front late in the first period thanks to Hugo Allard, who lofted a knuckling puck that fooled McInnes and sailed into the top of the net.
In the second stanza, the guests extended their edge at 11:34 when Dylan Garvin darted down the right side and fired a shot off the post then hit off Keenan Quenneville and bounce into the net.
The Lumberjacks then went to work while up a skater and saw Shepherdson raise a close-range attempt over the pad of McInnes.
Going to the man advantage once more, Shepherdson scored again by steering in a nice pass put his way by Chase Thompson.
That gives Thompson points in five straight contests, while with the second assist, Hearst captain Mathieu Comeau is now on a 15-game heater.
Trading tallies after that, Quinton Pagé got one back for Kirkland Lake with him finishing off a nice feed from Nathan Harper, only to see Comeau reach the 20-goal plateau by corralling a bouncing puck in the slot and whipping it in.
A spirited, penalty-filled final frame went without a goal as Hearst skated away with the road victory.
The win for Stonehouse was his first in the NOJHL.
With the result, the Lumberjacks move to 18-6-0-2 and with the loss, Kirkland Lake sinks to 9-17-0-2.
