BLIND RIVER, Ont. – Newcomer Nash Hatcher tallied three times and added an assist in his Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League debut Sunday afternoon to help lead the Blind River Beavers to a 6-4 triumph over the Hearst Lumberjacks at the Blind River Community Centre.
It took the Beavers just 104 seconds to notch the day’s opening marker as Brendan Young collected his eighth goal of the season after being set-up by Alex Engel and Hatcher.
Hearst tied it though at 8:21 thanks to a man advantage effort from Davely Fortin who scored for a second straight outing.
Blind River regained the lead however before the first period was complete on Caleb Serre’s 10th of the campaign.
With a power play that carried over to the middle stanza, Hatcher notched his first NOJHL goal 15 seconds into the session to put the home side up by a pair.
The two teams then traded markers in the latter stages of the second with Jake Desando connecting for the Lumberjacks, while up a skater, at 16:15 only to see Hatcher counter a couple of shifts later to make it 4-2 after 40 minutes.
Moving on to the final frame, Hatcher finished of his hat trick at 8:40 to extend the Blind River cushion.
Desando’s second of the afternoon and ninth overall brought Hearst closer with eight and a half minutes to go.
They then pulled to within one in quick order on a Christian James-McDonald marker at 13:14.
However, Blind River regrouped and added some insurance off the stick of Riley Nadeau into an empty net with 66 seconds left to help pull out the triumph.
Young joined Hatcher with a big game as he doled out four assists to go with his goal while Justin Mauro chipped in with a couple of helpers for the Beavers.
Thomson Phinney started in the Blind River net and made 32 saves on 36 shots to record the win while Garret Boyonoski handled all 13 attempts fired his way in nearly seven minutes of relief.
Nicholas Tallarico faced 42 shots for Hearst in defeat.