Photos: Allyson Demers
KIRKLAND LAKE, Ont. – The hometown Kirkland Lake Gold Miners roared out to an early lead and never looked back as they went on to crown the Iroquois Falls Storm 8-2 Saturday in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest at Joe Mavrinac Community Complex.
The Gold Miners were all business in the opening period as they tallied three times to gain an upper hand early.
Inde Abresch got Kirkland Lake going offensively by sticking in a low backhand under Iroquois Falls starter Brodie Haylock to commence a stream of stuffed toys flying onto the ice as part of Kirkland Lake’s annual ‘Teddy Bear Toss’ night, five minutes in.
The home side then went up 2-0 midway through the frame as Riley Babich was found free in front and quickly slammed in his fourth of the campaign.
Coming right back, the Gold Miners converted on a man advantage and saw Jacob Lamoureux finish off crisp passes from Jason Towindo and Jonah McIndoo.
Second period play saw Kirkland Lake continue to press and tack on two more early to go up by five.
Twoindo scored at 1:24 when he roofed one over the blocker of Connor Hatfield from the slot, who had entered the game for the Storm following the third Miners’ marker.
Tyler Genovese then notched his first NOJHL goal after that as he came down the right wing, while his club was shorthanded, and neatly picked the corner.
Still on the power play, Iroquois Falls got on the board after Michael Leech corralled a bouncing puck between the hash marks and ripped it by Kirkland Lake’s Trent Boryszczuk.
However, the Gold Miners kept coming and tallied twice more to go up by six thanks to wrist shots from the left circle courtesy of Twoindo and Noah Woodard.
Andre Cho added a second on the night for the visitors as he picked up a loose puck and snapped over a downed Boryszczuk at 16:10.
Capping off the one-sided result for the hosts in the third was Cameron Allen, as he notched his first for the club by ripping in a wrist shot from the left side during a late man advantage.
The victory for Boryszczuk is his first in league play as he helped Kirkland Lake improve to 7-19-3-1 on the year, while with the loss, the Storm fall to 8-24-0-1.
