Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League games between the Elliot Lake Red Wings and Blind River Beavers are tend to be nail biters and Saturday’s match at Elliot Lake’s Centennial Arena proved just that
A third period goal by Braden Twig was the difference as the Red Wings squeaked out a 4-3 win over the visiting Beavers.
Red Wings forward Zachary Vickerman got the locals on the scoreboard first with a power play goal 2:19 in after he took a pass from Devin Shoreman to the right of the net before beating Blind River goaltender Gavin Disano in tight.
Thomas Sefton extended the lead for the Red Wings just over five minutes later as he took a pass from Kaden Laverdiere on a 2-on-1 and beat Disano.
Blind River's Gavin Rocha cut into the Elliot Lake lead midway through the second period on a breakaway after taking a pass from Jacob Kovacs before beating Red Wings netminder Sean Guerin glove side.
Alex Antoine put the Red Wings up another goal with 2:01 to go in the period when he skated in on a 2-on-1 and tried to hit Evan Dantas with a pass. The feed hit a Blind River stick and redirected past Disano to make it 3-1.
With 20 seconds left in the second period, Blind River's Trevor Zimmer scored to make the score 3-2. Going to the net, Zimmer took a pass from Evan Fraccaro to finish off a three-pass play deep in the Beavers zone started by Gavin Rocha on the right win.
Twigg made it 4-2 Red Wings just under six minutes into the third period when he took a pass near the top of the left circle from Sam Noad
Caleb Minns narrowed the gap to 4-3 at 14:25 of the final period when he potted a loose puck after the initial shot from the slot by Kovacs was stopped by Guerin.
On Friday, Nov. 4, the Espanola Paper Kings play the Wings at home in Elliot Lake and Saturday the Red Wings make the short trip to Blind River to meet the Beavers.
Saturday’s win helped the Red Wings move back to the .500 mark, giving them a 9-9-0-0 record.