At the Jus Jordan in Iroquois Falls on Friday night, the fourth place Kirkland Lake Gold Miners took to the ice against the ninth place hosts Eskimos in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League Eastern Conference action.
Iroquois Falls Jacob Erwin opened the scoring at 3:58 of the first from Marco Luciani and Stuart Harley. Just under 2 minutes later, Kirkland Lake’s Blake Anderson set up Brayden Stortz for his 20th on the season to even the game 1 – 1. Kam Shearer with his fourth of the season gave Kirkland Lake a 2 – 1 lead, off a pretty pass from Dalton Anderson at 9:15 of the first period.
Shearer bagged his second of the game on Eskimos netminder Joe Sheppard at 16:33 of the first with assists from Adam Desgagnes and Dalton Anderson, the Miners led 3-1 after 20 minutes.
With 1:02 left in the second, Iroquois Falls David Osborne sent the Eskimos into the second intermission down by one, beating GoldMiner starter Victor-Olivier Courchesne, Blake Holowaty and Harley had the assists on the Osborne goal.
Kirkland Lake’s newest addition Alex Hester gave the Gold Miners a 4 – 2 lead with his first of the season, in his Miners debut, on a power play beating Eskimos netminder Josh Horner off a pass from Blake Anderson at 10:05 of the third. Dylan Holt increased the Gold Miners lead to 5 – 2 at 11:29 of the 3rd, with his first of the season from Brett Ouderkirk and Logan Fredericks.
Notching his second of the contest on a Kirkland Lake power play, Stortz increased the Gold Miners lead to 6 – 2 at 17:44 of the third with assists to Anderson and Ouderkirk. Scoring his seventh of the season and giving the Gold Miners a 7 – 2 over the Eskimos, Dalton Anderson found the back of Iroquois Falls net set up by Desgagnes at 18:08 of the third. Turning away all 11 shots in the third, rookie goaltender Tyler Mazzocato came on in relief of starter Victor-Olivier Courchesne.
Madison, Wisconsin native Blake Anderson told the Junior Hockey Network that “it was a hard fought win and we battled through our mistakes to pull out the two points. I have to give the credit to the guys they just kept scoring.”
The Miners outshot the Eskis 52-37, and were 2-8 on the PP, while the PK was a perfect 8-8.
The Three Stars were, #3 Kam Shearer, #2 Blake Anderson & the 1st Star, Dalton Anderson.
The Gold Miners will now host the eleventh place Espanola Express at the Joe Mavrinac on December 12th at 7:30 p.m in Kirkland Lake.
