BLIND RIVER, Ont. – Noah Tegelaar posted his Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League-leading fourth shutout of the season in backstopping the Blind River Beavers to their 16th consecutive win, a 4-0 triumph over the Elliot Lake Vikings, Saturday at Blind River Community Centre.
Despite the Beavers holding a territorial edge in play and shots, neither side would connect offensively in a scoreless opening 20 minutes as the clubs went to the dressing room for the first intermission still in search of a goal.
Moving to the middle frame, Blind River got on the board nearly three minutes in as Jesse Dupuis quickly pumped in a sharp cross-ice feed from Jakob Kovacs while parked to the left of Elliot Lake netminder Sam Keene, during a man advantage.
The home side then went up by a pair on the next shift, with Piper Post wheeling down the right wing and whipping a shot past Keene at 3:28.
Another power play marker made it 3-0 for the Beavers at 12:14 as Wyatt Gibson connected by ripping a shot through a screen from the left face-off dot.
The hosts then collected some insurance in the third thanks to Benjamin Armatage at 11:17 as he came out from the end boards and stuffed in his 11th of the season, to round out the scoring.
With the result, Blind River continues their winning ways, while improving to a league-best 30 victories, at 30-8-0-0, overall.
In defeat, Elliot Lake falls to 5-25-1-4.