Photos – Allyson Demers
KIRKLAND LAKE, Ont. – Levi Siau tallied twice while Chase Lefebvre had a goal and two assists to lead the French River Rapids to a 5-2 decision over the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners Friday in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League play at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex.
Lots of action in the first period saw four goals scored in the opening session.
French River started it off less than a minute in as a Hayden Radey effort from the left point was pushed over by Lefebrve right to an open Siau who slammed the disk into the open side on Kirkland Lake starter Nicolas Alvarez.
Countering a couple of shifts later, the Gold Miners’ Alex McDonald tied it by jamming in a loose puck off some nice pressure by the home side.
The Rapids then went back on top at 9:27 as Dominik Godin notched his 10th of the campaign when he split the Kirkland Lake defence and slid a shot along the ice under Alvarez.
Answering quickly once again, the Miners’ Alessandro Supino intercepted a pass, came in over the blueline and blasted one past French River netminder Hayden Williamson to score a beauty in his NOJHL debut.
The visitors struck moments into the middle session with Spencer Borg converting from close range.
Opting for a goaltending change after that, Zachary Reddy entered the game and went the rest of the way for Kirkland Lake.
However, the Rapids made it 4-2 at 6:15 when Siau notched his second of the night off a two-on-one with Cooper Bowman that saw him out wait Reddy before snapping one in blocker side.
A give-and-go finished off by Lefebvre early in the third gave the guests yet another quick tally to begin a period as they went up by three in the opening minute.
Neither side added any more offense on the night as French River secure the road triumph.
Williamson made 20 stops in picking up the win.
Alvarez allowed three against on 17 chances in suffering the loss while Reddy handled 26 of 28 in nearly 40 minutes of relief.
