NEWS RELEASE
NOJHL NETWORK MEDIA
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BLIND RIVER, Ont. – A see-saw Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League affair Tuesday at the Blind River Community Centre saw the Blind River Beavers defeat the Soo Eagles 8-5 to win their 13th consecutive contest.
Seemingly taking control of the proceedings, the Beavers scored three times in the first seven-plus minutes to take quick command.
Evan Fraccaro began the early outburst by beating Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., starter Marino Ramirez 26 seconds after the opening face-off.
On the play he finished off a behind-the-net feed from teammate Brendan Cooke, off a forecheck generated by Andrey Manov.
Adding another at 3:34, Josh Thompson notched his 10th tally of the season when he fired a low attempt under the pad of the Eagles’ netminder.
Still pressing, Blind River made it 3-0 after a dump in off the end boards bounced back into the slot where Cameron Menard pumped it into the top left-hand corner.
Roaring back, the Michigan squad countered with a trio of tallies of their own, in rapid succession, to knot the affair at 3-3.
Tyler Fortson got the first one for the Eagles by capitalizing off a Beavers’ turnover at 11:02.
They then added another 47 seconds later as Dylan Szabo put a shot towards the target from up high, that leaked through Blind River goalkeeper Noah Tegelaar.
Not done there, the visitors drew level on the next shift as they made the most of an another giveaway, which allowed Alex Freund to spin in the right circle and fire a shot past Tegelaar.
Another Eagles effort saw them take a 4-3 lead into the intermission after Coby Fox tipped in a point attempt from Gabriel Fisher, during a power play, at 18:18.
Answering back early in the second period, the Beavers’ Daniel Vasic scored for a seventh straight game as he was left with plenty of net to shoot at from the left wing, before finishing off a Joseph Rotilio set-up.
A man advantage helped the hosts go back in front at 6:08 with Matthew Campanella stuffing in a loose puck off his own attempt from the right of a sprawled Ramirez.
Blind River then went ahead 6-4 with half a game to play on a goal from Michael Gallagher, who was gifted with a tap-in after a misplay by the Soo goaltender.
That resulted in a netminding change as Anthony Zolezzi came on for the Eagles the rest of the way.
Helping put the game away after killing off a penalty just over eight minutes into the third, the Beavers came out of their own zone after Thompson chipped a play off the side boards and came in on a two-on-one where he fired a pass across to Gallagher, who ripped a shot high over the blocker of Zolezzi.
Getting one back, the Eagles’ Zach Szeitzer roofed a backhand from a sharp angle at 15:28.
In the end though, Thompson wrapped up the result with a long-range empty netter.
The win sees Blind River continue their winning ways as they improved to 27-8-0-0 on the campaign.
With the defeat, the Eagles fall to 20-13-0-1.
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