Photos: Wayne Neegan
HEARST, Ont. – The hometown Hearst Lumberjacks rolled out to an impressive six-goal first period and went on to dump the Iroquois Falls Storm 9-1 Friday evening in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action at the Claude Larose Recreation Centre.
After taking the opening end of the home-and-home Thursday in Iroquois Falls, Hearst jumped out to an early three-goal lead in this one before the proceedings were three minutes and a half minutes in.
The Lumberjacks’ Adam Shillinglaw started the early outburst at 1:41 as he moved in and finished off a nice passing play with teammates Mathieu Comeau and Liam Boswell, with a quick shot from the slot.
Adding another a couple of shifts later, Noah Janicki started a rush into the Storm end and then completed a goal-mouth scramble with a back hand into the open portion of the net.
Hearst then connected once more at 3:17 thanks to Jack Nolan, who found himself free in front and quickly whipped in a feed from behind the goal line from the top of the crease.
Not done there, a fourth in the frame saw Tyler Patterson get set-up where he dashed in alone and fired a low shot in for his sixth marker of the campaign.
Still on the attack, Hearst’s Alex McDonald split the Iroquois Falls defence and darted in on a breakaway where he made a crafty move to his left and lifted in a backhand.
Capping off the barrage was Moore, who picked up another as Connor Dunham-Fox was left out to dry and saw him guide one into the wide-open corner.
A goaltending change saw Alexis Mongrain enter for the Storm to begin the second.
The Lumberjacks eventually solved him though midway through the match-up on another by Patterson, who finished off his own rebound from in close.
Getting one back, the visitors clicked on the power play at 13:24 and saw Michael Leech smartly whip in a loose puck after Iroquois Falls defenceman Justin McKnight pumped one on Hearst goalkeeper Russ Decoste from the right point.
Up a skater themselves, the hosts made it 8-1 thanks to Shillinglaw at 15:57 as he found him free in front and took his time before lifting a backhand over the pad of Mongrain.
The offensive barrage continued late in the session when Aiden Kalin got his first in the league as he finished off a two-one-one with linemate Jason Towindo.
Neither side would convert offensively in the final frame as part of the one-sided result.
The outcome sees Hearst move to 5-2-0-1 on the campaign while Iroquois Falls fell to 3-5-0-0 off a fifth consecutive setback.
