IROQUOIS FALLS, Ont. – Collecting his first Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League shutout, Hearst Lumberjacks goaltender William Stonehouse was unbeatable, while their captain Mathieu Comeau reached a significant milestone late, as part of a 3-0 win over the Iroquois Falls Storm Friday at Jus Jordan Arena.
Hearst also won for an 11th straight time with the triumph.
The Lumberjacks notched the night’s initial tally midway through the first period when defenceman Cole Miller slid in the back door and buried a crisp pass across from Luc Warner in snapping it past Storm starter Lucas Cardiff-Bilodeau.
Hearst then carried their slim cushion into the intermission.
In the second session, the tight-checking affair continued as the clubs’ solid defensive efforts kept it 1-0 Hearst after 40 minutes.
Action in the third featured the visitors adding some insurance with six minutes to go as Hugo Allard rushed in with pace into the Iroquois Falls end and pressured a turnover that he used to feed Nathan Feed driving down the slot and saw him bury his chance with a sharp wrist shot past Cardiff-Bilodeau.
The Lumberjacks then iced it in the final moments when Julien Trudel banked one off the boards from distance into an empty net for a long-range shorthanded marker.
With the assist off the draw, Mathieu Comeau reached an impressive milestone becoming just the 10th player in league history to reach the 300-point plateau in his career
In extending their winning ways, the Lumberjacks improved to 32-8-0-3 while in the narrow defeat, the Storm slipped to 13-27-2-3.
