Photos: Northern Lights Photography
HEARST, Ont. – All business from the onset, the surging Hearst Lumberjacks piled up six first period goals and went on to bounce the Iroquois Falls Storm 10-4 Friday at Claude Larose Recreation Centre for their eighth Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League win in a row.
Hearst jumped out to an early 2-0 lead before the proceedings were seven minutes old.
After Kaden Bilajbegovic started it off by redirecting in a Cole Miller point attempt before Luc Warner notched another on the next shift as he buried a back-pass from below the goal line from Mathieu Comeau past Storm starter Nathan Boudreau.
That tally saw Warner run a point streak to 11 straight outings.
Iroquois Falls got one back, via the power play, midway through the first period thanks to Mathieu Ouellette as he darted down the right wing and ripped a shot through Lumberjacks’ netminder William Stonehouse for his 15th on the year.
Hearst came right back though a couple of shifts later to move up by two when Ty McKay stuffed in a wraparound at the 11-minute mark.
They then added a fourth in the session moments later off a Cole Shepherdson goal as he pumped one upstairs from the right circle.
That resulted in a change in net for the Storm as Lucas Cardiff-Bilodeau entered in relief.
However, the home side kept coming and seized control as Comeau lifted one in from a sharp angle during a man advantage for his 25th and Mavrik Chan-Miguel’s 11th made it 6-1 by roofing one off a two-on-one.
More from the Lumberjacks in the second stanza, saw Cameron Menard convert at 2:44 as he pulled off ‘The Michigan’ by elevating the puck with his stick and stuffing it in up high while moving out from behind the net.
He then added another a few shifts later as he took a cross-ice pass from Chase Thompson and ripped it in from the left side.
Up a skater late in the frame, saw Iroquois Falls convert as Colin Jennings finished off a rebound while battling in close.
Wrapping it up in the third, Comeau muscled his way in on a shorthanded break and tucked in his second of the night.
A pair of Storm tallies from Rafek Dianov, on the power play, and Alexandre St. Pierre, at even strength, sandwiched around one by Hearst’s Dylan Garvin finished off the scoring.
Continuing their winning ways, the Lumberjacks improve to 29-8-0-3 and in the loss, Iroquois Falls sinks to 13-25-2-3.
