ESPANOLA, Ont. – Stellar three-goal, one-assist performances from Joseph Coates and Owen Smith propelled the Espanola Paper Kings to a one-sided 8-2 triumph over the Hearst Lumberjacks Saturday night in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest at the Regional Recreation Complex.
Needing less than a minute to open the scoring, Hearst’s Mathieu Comeau snagged a pass up-ice that an Espanola defender could not control, which allowed him to skate in alone and wire a shot past Paper Kings’ starter Logan Vale.
Pulling even at 6:44, the home side saw Emerson De Giacomo notch his first NOJHL goal as he stuffed in a rebound off a two-on-one break on a downed netminder, Owen Bonthuis.
Answering right back, the Lumberjacks regained the edge once again thanks to Cole Stranathan, who took a drop pass from Hugo Allard and after juggling it, whipped it in from the slot.
Tying things up once again, Espanola’s Smith came in on the left side and while driving to the middle of the zone, and using a Soo defender as a screen, sent a rising sizzler by Bonthuis.
Taking their first lead on the night 70 seconds into the middle stanza, the Paper Kings’ Cameron Menard collected a Coates contribution in the slot where he quickly spun and scored for the second time in as many nights early on the season.
Special teams helped Espanola to go up by a pair when Coates lifted in a backhand from the left side during a man advantage opportunity.
Continuing his impressive start to his NOJHL campaign, Coates connected once again as he slammed in a rebound off some solid work driving into the zone by Menard at 7:10 to chase Bonthuis in favour of back-up Alexandre Boivin.
Capping it off his big night in the final frame, Coates completed his hat trick with a man-down marker as he forced a turnover at his own blueline then darted in on a breakaway where he made a nifty deke to his right and stuffed his chance past a sprawled Hearst goalkeeper.
Adding to the onslaught at 6:08, Smith clicked off a tremendous move by putting the puck back to his skates then moving it ahead and darting around a defender before finishing off his chance in close.
Smith then wrapped up the scoring with a hat trick of his own in the late going to complete the romp by bulling his way through multiple Lumberjacks’ skaters and roofing his impressive attempt.
The same two teams will meet again Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m., back in Espanola.
