Wildcats’ trio leads club to victory over Eagles

ELLIOT LAKE, Ont. – The Elliot Lake Wildcats trio of Brett Crook, William Bucsis and Nick Long combined for eight points to lift them to a 6-3 win over the Soo Eagles in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest Thursday evening at Centennial Arena.

Josh Armstrong staked Elliot Lake to the night’s opening tally 8:24 into the first frame.

The Wildcats then broke it open in the middle stanza with four goals in just over a 10-minute span to go up by five after two periods of play.

Long started the offensive outburst 1:46 into the second before Crook and Jacob Kelly connected 22 seconds apart later in the period.

Long then added his second of the night and 22nd overall at 11:54 to make it 5-0 heading into the third.

In the final frame, Sault Ste. Marie got on the board at 7:38 as Christian Bardarson collected his league-leading 35th goal.

Teammate William Casey added another for the Eagles 78 seconds later as his fourth brought the visitors to within three.

Crook added some insurance for Elliot Lake though, with five minutes remaining, before Bardarson rounded out the scoring on the next shift as he notched his NOJHL-best 36th.

Nick Techel assisted on the second Bardarson marker to give him points in each of his past nine outings.

He also leads the league in scoring and assists with 73 and 47 respectively.

A three-helper evening for Bucsis moves him into a tie for second in the NOJHL with 45 in total.

The Wildcats’ Logan Sawka was busy in net, making 41 saves to pick-up the victory.

Shane Brancato started for the Soo and allowed two against on 14 shots while Carter McPhail suffered the loss in over 38 minutes of relief making 16 stops on 20 attempts.