Brad Sheratt, JR Daoust, Northern News & GoldMiners media.
KIRKLAND LAKE, Ont. –
KIRKLAND LAKE – The Kirkland Lake Gold Miners completed their two-game home stand this past weekend with a 4-2 win over Iroquois Falls Sunday night at The Joe.
The Miners had a less than stellar start as forward Joel Fortin took a puck in the chin during warm up and had to be taken to hospital.
Fortunately Fortin only received a few stitches on the chin and he returned to action in the second period. He wasn’t going to let some stitches prevent him from getting in the game.
The bad luck in terms of losing bodies continued early in the first when Arthur Miller was tossed for getting into a fight.
Despite having a short bench the Miners kept going and nine minutes into the frame Dalton Anderson scored with help from Blake Anderson and Dylan Holt, to take the 1-0 lead.
The Miners then lost another player for the night as Jamey Lauzon was ejected for arguing a penalty call with the official.
In the second period the Miners scored again to make it 2-0 when Jesse Houlton found the back of the net with the help of Logan Fredericks and Evan Bidenti.
In the third, the Miners started out quickly when Brayden Stortz scored a a minute in with the assists going to Bidenti and Fortin.
With a 3-0 lead it appeared it was going to be clear sailing the rest of the way but the visitors had other plans.
The Eskis scored back-to-back goals and all of a sudden it was a 3-2 with time winding down.
The Miners kept the pressure on in the latter stages not allowing the Eskis to pull their goalie and Marc-Antoine Arseneault scored with less than a minute on the clock to close the scoring.
Stortz and Adam Desgagne picked up the assists.
Tyler Mazzocato picked up his second win of the weekend, stopping 24 of 26 shots, while his team-mates fired 57 shots at Joe Sheppard in the Eskis net.
Speaking after the game Miners’ Head Coach Marc Lafleur said playing with a short bench wasn’t as tough as one might think.
The coach is noted for continually juggling his lines so switching things up in terms of the lines was not a problem. In terms of their legs and heads being in the game he said it was just a matter of keeping the flow going and making sure they stayed focused.
The team is now preparing to hit the road next weekend. This upcoming Friday the club is in Espanola for a game against the Express. One Saturday they travel to Rayside-Balfour for a match up with the Canadians.
Meantime a Gold Miner Alumni is doing well with his current hockey career.
Former Captain and Fan Favourite Ethan Strong is currently playing NCAA college hockey with the University of Wisconsin Stevens-Point and he says everything is going great.
“Everything is going fantastic down here. I am really happy I made my decision to come here to Stevens Point.
“The campus is nice and small and the class sizes are small as well. Stevens Point is a decent sized town but it doesn’t feel that way. I can drive a few kilometres and I’m into corn feeds and dirt roads.
My roommate and I who is from Alaska have been doing a lot of fishing and we are planning on going deer hunting as well.
Our hockey season is off to a good start we are ranked second in the country. We are 6-0. I’ve dressed for three of the six games we have played and have two assists.
I really miss KL, all my friends and living with the Bolgers.”
Brayden Stortz was the 3rd Star of the game, and Logan Fredericks was named 1st Star and Goldland Pizza Player of the Game.
