NOJHL NETWORK MEDIA UPDATE
Release Date: Saturday, March 12, 2016
Wildcats thump Thunderbirds in regular season finale on Blais’ 6-point night
ELLIOT LAKE, Ont. – Liam Blais notched a hat trick and dished out three assists to help the Elliot Lake Wildcats thump the Soo Thunderbirds 9-2 Saturday in the finale of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League’s regular season at Centennial Arena.
The contest, which was a make-up game that was postponed back on Feb. 26, saw Blais notch the lone tally of the opening frame as the Elliot Lake forward beat Soo starter Brendon Gordon 5:14 in.
Blais added his second of the night 66 seconds into the middle stanza to put the Wildcats up a pair.
The home side added to their cushion with tallies a half minute apart later in the frame from Artur Terchiyev and Connor Rider.
Sault Ste. Marie opted to replace Gordon from there in favour of affiliate netminder Garrett Boyonoski.
The move paid immediate dividends for the T-Birds as they got on the board a half minute later on a Matthew Caruso effort.
Elliot Lake countered however and added two more of their own before the frame was complete thanks to Ty Hannaford and Chad Lopez.
A Caruso power play goal 1:06 into the third allowed the Soo forward to pick up his 30th of the season.
The Wildcats would come back and finish off the one-side decision on tallies by Nathan Campbell, Hannaford and Blais.
Matthew Colunga joined Blais with three assists each while Terchiyev and Campbell doled out two helpers apiece.
Aaron Mackay made 32 saves to record the win for Elliot Lake.
Gordon allowed the four against on 18 attempts in defeat for the T-Birds.
Boyonoski faced 28 shots in relief for the Soo.