KIRKLAND LAKE – The Kirkland Lake Gold Miners got late goals in each of the final two periods to pull out a 3-1 triumph over the Blind River Beavers Friday night in a hard fought Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League encounter at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex.
Kirkland Lake came out quick in this one getting on the board just 1:17 into the contest as Ryan Swain scored on the power play for his 16th of the season.
Battling back, Blind River tied things up just over seven minutes later when Regen Yew tallied for the third time in nine games since joining the club from the Dauphin Kings of the MJHL.
The score stayed that way until the latter stages of the middle stanza when Joel Fortin fired home the eventual game-winner with 93 seconds left in the frame.
The Beavers pressed for the equalizer in the final period, but in the end the defending NOJHL champion Gold Miners prevailed as Connor Thie iced it with an insurance marker at 18:28 of the third to conclude the night’s scoring.
Josh Erickson finished with 17 saves to record the win for Kirkland Lake who fired 31 shots on Beavers netminder Zach Mills, who suffered the setback.
