NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
NOJHL COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA RELEASE
Trappers and Thunderbirds Friday night winners
SUDBURY – The top two teams in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League standings kept pace with each other as the Soo Thunderbirds and North Bay Trappers both skated away with victories Friday evening.
NORTH BAY TRAPPERS 3 ELLIOT LAKE BOBCATS 0 – North Bay broke open a 0-0 third period tie by finding the back of the net three times en route to the shutout of visiting Elliot Lake.
Scoreless after 40 minutes the Trappers Daniel Carter notched the eventual game-winner 6:55 into the final stanza.
Stephen Langford increased the lead to 2-0 midway through the session before Beau Orser added some insurance in the late stages to wrap-up the night’s scoring.
Greg Dodds turned aside all 37 shots he faced in registering his third shutout of the year helping his club improve to 27-6-3-3 on the season.
Cory Simic made 38 saves in a losing cause for the Bobcats who slipped to 11-28-0-2 overall in this their first season in the NOJHL.
SOO THUNDERBIRDS 2 KIRKLAND LAKE GOLD MINERS 1 (OT) – A Michael Caruso goal 43 seconds into overtime was the decider as the Thunderbirds came from behind to defeat the Gold Miners.
The opening goal of the contest did not happen until 5:34 of the second stanza as Kirkland Lake’s Tanner Lafrance scored on the power play.
It stayed that until the latter stages of the final period when Gavin Burbach notched the equalizer during a man advantage opportunity with 6:55 remaining in regulation.
With the two sides skating four-on-four early in OT Caruso snapped a shot from the left point past Gold Miners’ netminder Chris Komma for the winner.
The triumph allowed the T-Birds to maintain their two-point lead over North Bay atop the league standings as they improved to 28-8-3-3 overall.
Steven Dombrowski made 17 stops to secure the win while also picking earning his 10th straight victory.
Komma faced 23 attempts in a losing cause helping his side salvage a point on the night as their record went to 21-16-2-3.
A pair of games is on the NOJHL slate Saturday as Kirkland Lake visits Blind River while Abitibi hosts North Bay.
Both match-ups get underway at 7:30 p.m.
