Photos: Allyson Demers
KIRKLAND LAKE, Ont. – Mathieu Comeau and Cameron Menard of the Hearst Lumberjacks both tallied twice to reach significant milestones as part of a 6-2 triumph over the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners Sunday in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League’s regular season finale at Joe Mavrinac Community Complex.
Hearst opened the scoring four minutes into the contest when Ty McKay fired a feed into the slot that Comeau whipped past Kirkland Lake starter Glen McInnis for his NOJHL-leading 100th point of the season.
Mavrick Boucher drew the Gold Miners level at 13:55 as he kept a play in the Lumberjacks zone, then corralled the loose puck on the left side and drove to the net where he wired one upstairs on netminder Jack Helkie to reach the 10-goal plateau on the campaign.
Still tied into second stanza, Hearst went back on top thanks to Theo Bourdon-Lemoyne, who pushed a play ahead on a face-off, then banked in attempt off of McInnes from an extremely sharp angle.
More from Comeau while his club was shorthanded saw the Lumberjacks’ captain sent in alone via a Hugo Allard backhand up-ice that allowed him make a quick head fake and lift his chance high over the blocker of the Kirkland Lake goalkeeper.
The visitors kept coming and went up 4-1 as Sam Taylor moved in from the point and finished off a Nathan Seed down-low set-up at 11:17.
Continuing to click offensively, Hearst tacked on another moments after a power play they were on had expired when McKay wheeled out from behind the net and supplied a crisp cross-ice pass over to Menard on the right side that he promptly buried.
The marker for Menard tied him for the NOJHL goal-scoring lead at 44, with Greater Sudbury’s Owen King.
Third period play then saw Menard secure the season’s tally-title on a man advantage as McKay collected his third assist by finding him in the middle, where he moved in and whistled his second of the day, and league-best 45th overall, into the back of the net with authority at 3:55.
Vaive Hickey got the Gold Miners closer as he used a defender as a screen and roofed a shot on Helkie.
A late chance to get another was thwarted by the pad of Helkie as he stymied Kirkland Lake’s Ben Lyons on a penalty shot in the final two minutes.
With the result, the Lumberjacks wrap-up the regular season at 36-13-0-3, while in defeat, the Gold Miners finish with a 17-28-0-7 record.
They’ll both now gear up for the playoffs as Hearst takes on the Espanola Paper Kings and Kirkland Lake meets the Greater Sudbury Cubs in a pair of upcoming best-of-seven quarter-final series.
