Eagles victorious over Red Wings

ELLIOT LAKE, Ont. – A pair of early third period tallies helped send the Soo Eagles on their way to an eventual 5-3 triumph over the Elliot Lake Red Wings Friday in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League encounter at Centennial Arena.

The Eagles picked up the lone marker in the opening frame as Brian Fiddes was sent in alone on a breakaway where he calmly made a nice move and tucked the puck between the legs of Elliot Lake netminder Cameron Smith at 15:58.

Moving to the middle stanza, Sault Ste. Marie needed just 32 seconds to go up by a pair thanks to Seth Ferguson forcing a neutral zone turnover then eventually banking an attempt towards the goal off a Red Wings’ defender and in past Smith.

Elliot Lake got that back though three minutes later with Brodie Kearns collecting his 10th tally of the season on a splendid effort as he flew up the left wing then drove hard to the net before lifting a chance over Soo goaltender Gabe Rosek.

Regaining their two-goal lead at 12:01, the Eagles broke out of their own zone on a odd-man rush and saw Michael Szlag saucer a nice cross-ice pass over to Sam Holy, who quickly buried his opportunity while right on top of Smith.

Picking up a man advantage before the second period was complete allowed Elliot Lake to move back to within one with Matthew Shulist quickly stuffing in a Kearns shot with a back hand at the top of the crease.

All business early again, the Eagles struck twice within the first 80 seconds of the final frame to take control of the contest.

Chase Tallaire provided the initial effort at the 48-second mark as he whipped one in from between the hash marks to make it 4-2 before teammate Trevor Davis got into the act from nearly the same spot on the next shift.

Moments after missing on a breakaway, the Red Wings continued to pressure the play and were rewarded with Sam Noad’s first NOJHL goal as he fired in a bouncing puck from the left side at 6:35.

However, the Soo held on from there to record the road win.

Rosek made 40 stops to pick up the victory for the Eagles while Elliot Lake’s Smith faced 30 shots against in suffering the defeat.