SUDBURY, Ont. – A three-goal second period surge helped send the Elliot Lake Wildcats to a 5-2 triumph over the French River Rapids Tuesday in continuing Day 1 play at the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League Showcase at Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex in Sudbury.
The opening stanza saw the Wildcats outshoot the Rapids 12-6 in the frame and also score the only goal of the period as William Bucsis finished off an Evan Spencer feed three minutes into the contest.
Action in the middle session saw the Wildcats strike twice quickly to go up 3-0.
David Elford put Elliot Lake by a pair at 1:37 before Leejay Meguinis notched his third of the campaign 55 seconds later.
French River got one back as they capitalized late into a man advantage effort after Levi Siau took a Gregory Trudeau-Paquet feed and snapped one past Wildcats’ starter Parker Simpson from the high slot at 11:23.
However Elliot Lake restored their three-goal cushion three minutes later as Jacob Kelly chipped a chance over Rapids’ goalkeeper Spencer Eschyshcyn.
Heading into the final frame Nick Long upped the Wildcats lead at 2:45 before Donny Schultz round out the scoring for French River with 4:13 remaining.
Skating to the CCM Hockey player of the game awards were Kelly of Elliot Lake and Donny Schultz of the Rapids.
