Photos: Turnbull’s Northern Photography
IROQUOIS FALLS, Ont. – An early two-goal strike by the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners held up as part of an eventual 3-1 triumph over the Iroquois Falls Storm in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League match-up Thursday at Jus Jordan Arena.
Notching the night’s opening tally, 100 seconds into the contest, Kirkland Lake’s gained the lead off an attempt from the left point that Iroquois Falls starter Alexis Mongrain could not quite contain, which allowed Nolan Rosko-Fong to tuck in a backhand past the pad for his first of the season.
Adding another at 4:43, the visitors went up by a pair when Cole Ellis finished off a rebound of his own chance from the slot as he corralled the puck and lifted it in from a sharp angle along the right side.
The Gold Miners then chased Mongrain, in favour of back-up Connor Dunham-Fox, deep into the period as Inde Abresch took a Riley Babich feed and put it through the netminder from close range.
Getting on the board just over six minutes into the middle stanza, the Storm’s Andrew Benedetti drove in along the right side and sent a perfect play in front that Seth Martin steered in for his initial NOJHL marker, in beating Kirkland Lake netminder Connor Davis.
Moving to the third, the Gold Miners held firm defensively to secure the victory, which was the first in league play for Davis.
The result also sees Kirkland Lake move to 4-7-1-1 on the season, while with the loss, Iroquois Falls saw their record drop to 4-8-0-0.
