In a physical affair in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario during ‘Pink in the Rink‘, the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners played their third game in three days against the Soo Thunderbirds at the Essar Centre for a afternoon matinee in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action on October 25th. The Gold Miners were coming off a 4 – 3 win in Elliot Lake on Friday and 6 – 3 win over the Soo Eagles in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan on Saturday evening.
Sinking his ninth of the season Marc-Antoine Arseneau gave the Gold Miners a 1 – 0 lead at 11:49 of the first with assists from Blake Anderson and Brayden Stortz. Rookie Darian Pilon sank his sixth of the season on a Thunderbird power play to even the game at 1 – 1 with helpers from Matt Carsuo and Caleb Boman at 14:18 of the first. Scoring his first goal of the 2015 – 2016 season, Izaak Del Mastro fires a goal behind Kirkland Lake’s Victor – Olivier Courchesne to give the Soo a 2 – 1 lead with 1:45 left in the opening period.
Veteran forward Joey Miller gives the Thunderbirds a 3 – 1 lead at the 8:07 mark of the second with contributors from Boman and Matt Pinder. With the Gold Miners shorthanded, A.J Rupert finds the back of Soo goaltender Nathan Warren’s net to bring the game to 3 – 2 at 12:32 of the second.
With the 3 – 2 win, the Soo improves to 14 – 1 while the Gold Miners fall to 10 – 4 – 1.
Gold Miners Brandon Wolfe told the Junior Hockey Network that “it was a good road trip with the first two wins. The third was obviously a physical contest and being the third game in three days we were a little tired and they took advantage of it with their physicality.”
“This weekend was a pretty good one for us, we got four out of six points! It was good, but were still not satisfied, the game against the Soo was pretty physical, alot of penalties for both teams,” said Kirkland Lake captain Jamey Lauzon.
The Gold Miners will head to Cochrane for a East division match – up against the 13 – 3 – 1 Crunch at the Tim Horton Event Centre for a 7:30 p.m start on Thursday, October 29th in NOJHL action.
