Photos: Allyson Demers
KIRKLAND LAKE, Ont. – A high-scoring Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League affair Saturday at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex saw the Hearst Lumberjacks go on to outscore and outlast the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners 8-5.
Hearst converted early as Tyler Patterson beat Kirkland Lake’s Mason Janicki, who was making his NOJHL debut, just 48 seconds into the first period as he snapped a shot in from the right circle.
The Gold Miners came right back on the next shift to tie it though, thanks to Alexander Sackett snagging a loose puck and firing it by Lumberjacks’ netminder Owen Bonthuis.
On an extended power play to begin the second stanza, the home side took the lead at 1:22 as Mason Brownlee moved in from the blueline and sent a sizzler high past Bonthuis.
Pulling even with a shorthanded effort off the stick of Ty McKay, the Hearst forward lifted in a backhand off a rebound from an Adam Shillinglaw attempt.
Building on that, the Lumberjacks potted two more before the end of the frame to take a 4-2 lead after 40 minutes.
Banging in a rebound off a shot that hit the post, Henry Ouellet put Hearst ahead before a Mathieu Comeau man-down effort doubled the visitors lead in the final minute as he forced a turnover and went in alone before neatly tucking in a backhand between the legs of Janicki.
In the third, the Lumberjacks kept coming and seemingly took control with a trio of tallies.
McKay hammered in a pass across from Keenan Quenneville before Aidan Kalin and Bronson Babyak capitalized off a turnovers to make 7-2.
Battling back, Kirkland Lake struck three times, in rapid succession, to pull within two as Jordan Fitger, Brownlee and Josh Hall all found the back of the net.
The Gold Miners then got their goalie out for an extra skater, but Hearst sealed the victory with an empty netter courtesy of Ouellet in the final minute to wrap things up offensively.
With the outcome, the Lumberjacks improve to 21-6-0-1 overall and in defeat Kirkland Lake dropped to 2-23-0-2.
