Photos: Northern Exposures Photography
ESPANOLA, Ont. – The Elliot Lake Vikings got two goals from Tomas Palandra, along with some stalwart netminding from Matthew Vahramian, to lead them to a thrilling 3-2 victory over the Greater Sudbury Cubs Friday in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League neutral site affair in front of a boisterous crowd at the Espanola Regional Recreation Complex.
Greater Sudbury took the lead just over six minutes into the game when Ryan Rubic chipped in a feed from the right side by Cameron Shanks past Vahramian.
Countering with a couple of late tallies, Elliot Lake took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission, beginning with Liam Bridgeman chipping a backhand over Cubs’ goalkeeper Noah Beaulne, after receiving a pass from Nathan Marincola.
The Vikings then when in front at 18:05 after breaking out of their own end off a face off that saw Bridgeman with a race down the left wing and get it across to Palandra, who buried his opportunity.
Action in the second stanza saw Greater Sudbury draw level when Mason Chitaroni banked one in off an Elliot Lake defender from the left of the net.
Staying 2-2 into the third period, Elliot Lake retook the lead as they came out in numbers and a couple of back passes later, Palandra went to the net and tucked in his second of the night with 15 and a half minutes remaining.
The Cubs pressed to tie in the late going and even had a power play, with Beaulne out also for an additional attacker, but Vahramian stood tall with a couple of key saves to preserve the triumph.
With the win, the Vikings improved to 3-8-1-2 on the season while Greater Sudbury fell for a second straight night, in dropping to 12-4-0-0 on the campaign.
