Photos: Turnbull’s Northern Photography
IROQUOIS FALLS, ON – The Hearst Lumberjacks scored four times in the third period to break open a close game as they defeated the Iroquois Falls Storm 6-2 at the Jus Jordan Arena on Friday night.
The Storm got on the board first as the Storm’s Patrice Lafontaine put one past Hearst netminder Russ DeCoste after a Lumberjacks clearing shot took a funny bounce into the slot which Lafontaine backed home to make it 1-0 just past the 11-minute mark of the opening frame and the only tally in the opening frame.
The Lumberjacks evened things up early in the second as Aiden Kalin fired home his 14th at 1:53 of the middle frame to make it 1-1.
The visitors took their first lead of the game on what appeared to be an innocent play in the late stages of the second as Max Gorzelnik registered his 5th as he went high, fooling Connor Hatfield at 19:27 of the second giving the Lumberjacks a 2-1 lead into the locker room after two.
The Lumberjacks built on that late goal with a good start in the third as DonHeaven Veilleux put home his 10th of the season at 1:52 into the third.
The visitors continued to add to their lead as Alex McDonald put home his 5th at 8:07 of the third. Then less than two minutes later Tyler Patterson put away his 25th of the campaign to make it 5-1 Lumberjacks.
The Storm tried to fight back about 90 seconds later as Charlie Crump scored his 7th to cut the lead to 5-2 in the third.
The Storm had another chance to make it close as Landon Treatheway was awarded a penalty shot at 13:21. On the penalty shot, the Storm shooter came in slowly and ran out of room as Decoste shut the door.
The Lumberjacks added to the lead as trade deadline pickup Jack Robinson put one top shelf for this 14th of the season at 16:47 of the third.
Tyler Corbett of the Storm scored his 4th of the year in the final minute to round out the scoring at the Jus Jordan Arena.
The Lumberjacks Adam Boucher and Wiliam Paquet also contributed two assists each in the road win.
Russ DeCoste turned away 25 shots for the Lumberjacks’ win, while Connor Hatfield made 45 saves in the loss for the Storm.
The Lumberjacks win improves their record to 21-11-3-2 on the season while the Storm dips to 11-28-0-1.
