Photos: Northern Exposures Photography
MASSEY, Ont. – The Elliot Lake Vikings saw Owen Kahl and Gavin McLenaghan both tally twice as part of a 6-3 victory over the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League meeting Friday at the Massey District Community Arena.
An early power play helped Kirkland Lake open the scoring and saw Bruce Grey send a shot from the point that was tipped in out of mid-air by Noah Woodard, parked in front of Elliot Lake starter Sam Keene.
Skating in their initial contest, as the home side in Massey, the Vikings answered with an equalizer during a four-on-three midway through the first period, when Kahl drove hard to the net from the left side and lifted in his first NOJHL goal, over the glove of netminder Graydon Mole.
Coming right back, Elliot Lake struck again off another nice Kahl rush as he powered his way in from the right wing this time and got a shot off that was stopped, but McLenaghan swooped in and buried the rebound.
Moving to the middle stanza, McLenaghan made it 3-1 on a partial break after an attempted feed in front came right back to him, off a skate, which allowed him to swat in his second of the night.
The Vikings then went up by three after Braeden Vis flipped a shot up ice, which allowed Anthony Bertrand to dart in alone on a breakaway where he made a couple of crafty moves before tucking in a backhand on Mole.
Pulling back to within two, the Gold Miners’ Joseph Bastien-Picard battled in front and jammed one in on the short side of Keene.
Making it a one-goal game late in the second, Kirkland Lake’s Aiden Beavan did a good job keeping a play in the Elliot Lake zone, which allowed Woodard to pump one upstairs.
Going back up by a pair, 2:43 into the third, a spinning backhand by the Vikings’ Nate Dugwell was knocked in by Kahl from in close.
A two-man advantage helped secure the result for Elliot Lake as Carter Carriere glided in from the point and snapped in his initial NOJHL tally.
The win for Keene was his first in league play, helping his side improve to 5-15-1-3.
In defeat, the Gold Miners fall to 6-18-3-1.
