ESPANOLA, Ont. – One of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League’s highest scoring teams added a batch more to their offensive totals Friday after dumping the Elliot Lake Vikings 10-4 in a match-up held at the Regional Recreation Complex.
Going right to work, the Paper Kings scored just 32 seconds into the contest when Dario Sacino tipped a knuckling Spencer Horgan attempt from the left point that fluttered over the glove of Vikings’ starter Sam Keene.
The tally helped Sacino run a point streak to six straight outings.
Countering that, Elliot Lake drew level just over five minutes later as Gavin McLenaghan forced a turnover in the Espanola zone, then went to the net but was stopped, only to see Ryan Daponte waiting right there to stuff in the rebound.
Retaking the lead at 12:44, Horgan picked up his 10th of the campaign as he found himself free in front and finished off an Owen Fergusson feed from behind the net.
Not down there, the Paper Kings tacked on two more in rapid succession to go up 4-1.
Fergusson got their third a couple of shifts later as he jammed in an attempt off the end boards taken by Lucas Signortetti.
It was Signoretti who put the hosts ahead by three after 20 minutes with a rising blocker side wrist shot that he wired past Keene.
Heading to the second stanza, Vikings’ captain Noah Aboflan got one back 51 seconds into the frame as he whipped an attempt past Espanola’s Andrew Gaulton from the top of the left circle.
Getting that back at 7:26, Horgan notched another in transition as he joined the rush and saw Signoretti find him with a sharp set-up from the right side that the Paper Kings’ defenceman guided in.
Elliot Lake then broke out of their own zone while shorthanded and saw McLenaghan finish off a crisp give-and-go with Aboflan.
Piling on three more, Signoretti, Fergusson and Blake Peters-Davey all connected in the back half of the period to make it 8-3 Espanola after 40 minutes.
The Vikings’ Max Ciesielski got a fourth for his club in the third as he took pass from behind the goal line and fired it by Gaulton, while situated in front.
However, Espanola completed the home victory with a marker from Logan Cicchelli, on a two-on-one, before Signoretti finished off a hat trick, during a power play, and capped off a seven-point performance as he pumped in a one-timer off a Horgan cross-ice pass that left Cameron Boville little chance on, who had come in to play net for Elliot Lake in the final frame.
The Paper Kings are now 12-5-0-0 on the campaign while the Vikings dipped to 4-9-1-2.
