Photos: Rod Turnbull
IROQUOIS FALLS, Ont. – The upstart Iroquois Falls Storm won a third straight Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest in overtime Saturday, with a thrilling 4-3 decision versus the Elliot Lake Vikings at Jus Jordan Arena.
Iroquois Falls opened the scoring three and a half minutes into the contest when Owen Cassidy picked off an errant clearing attempt just inside the Elliot Lake blueline, then dashed into the slot where he ripped a shot, blocker side, on netminder Sam Keene.
Taking a 2-0 cushion into the first intermission, Charlie Crump collected his opening league tally at 16:34 by jamming in a loose puck laying in the crease by a sprawled Keene.
Cutting into the deficit on a delayed penalty near the seven-minute mark of the second stanza, the Vikings’ Dylan Leslie finished off a sharp give-and-go with Blake Menard that left him plenty of room to put it past Storm starter Alex Mongrain.
Elliot Lake then tied it during a man advantage, with Ryan Daponte converting, after having a couple of cracks at it off a wrap-around, before eventually squeezing one by the Iroquois Falls goalkeeper.
Regain the lead late in the second, Crump put the Storm back on top at 17:37 while they were up a skater themselves as he buried one from close range off an attempt on target from the left side.
Heading deep into regulation time, the Vikings forced OT with a late extra-man marker off the stick of Noah Aboflan, whi whipped in the equalizer from the top of the right circle to help send it to OT.
In the extra frame, Cassidy won it for Iroquois Falls 22 seconds in as he darted down the right wing and fired the game-winner over the right shoulder of Keene to finish the night off.
The Storm now sit 3-0 to start the season, with each triumph coming in OT, while the Vikings fell to 1-2-1-0 overall on the campaign.
