NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
NOJHL NETWORK MEDIA UPDATE
Release Date: Saturday, Oct. 1, 2016
Denault & Savard lift Canadians over Wildcats
CHELMSFORD, Ont. – Chad Denault scored the game’s only goal, in the second period, while MacKenzie Savard stopped at 31 shots he faced to post the shutout as the Rayside-Balfour Canadians edged the Elliot Lake Wildcats 1-0 Saturday evening in a hard-fought Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League West Division contest at Chelmsford Arena.
The opening 20 minutes saw Rayside-Balfour press the attack outshooting the Wildcats 18-10 with Elliot Lake netminder Justin Richer and Savard of Rayside-Balfour both equal to the task in denying opposing shooters.
Heading into the middle stanza, it was the Canadians that connected for what would be the night’s only tally as Evan Krassey and Jordan Spadafore combined to set-up Denault for the eventual game-winner 3:26 into the session.
Both goalkeepers took over again from there, handling each chance fired on net in this low-scoring affair.
In all Richer made 44 saves keeping his club in it in the narrow defeat for the Wildcats while Savard’s shutout performance was his second of the season, which moved him into a tie for the league lead in that category.
With the victory, Rayside-Balfour moved past Elliot Lake into second spot in the NOJHL West.
The Canadians now have 11 points and a 5-3-1-0 record with the Wildcats remaining at 10 points with a 5-5-0-0 mark.
