SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. – Jesse Dupuis notched the lone marker, in a four-round shootout, to help give the Blind River Beavers a 6-5 victory over the Soo Eagles Saturday in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest at Pullar Stadium.
The clubs traded early markers before the match-up was six minutes old to get things going offensively.
Kyle Caron connected for Blind River by lifting a rising backhand over the glove of Sault Ste. Marie starter Ryan Gilmore at 1:55.
Getting that back, Marc LaFrance teed up Sam Holy coming in from the point where he whistled one that beat Beavers’ goalkeeper Patrick Boivin.
The home side went back in front five minutes into the middle session with Seth Ferguson whipping one in from up top that was credited to Holy on a deflection.
Countering quickly, the visitors tied it on the next shift with Dupuis slamming in a rebound off a Nathan Headrick attempt from the point.
Regaining the lead, the Soo made it 3-2 following a massive pile-up in front that saw Nicholas Castillo awarded the tally.
Blind River converted to draw level once more, just as a man advantage had expired, as they saw Caron collect his second of the night at 15:13, after a cross-crease pass found him for a tap in.
They then took their first lead right after that with another door-step goal that was finished off by Jacob Kovacs.
With play heading to the third, back and forth they went, with the Eagles evening the score yet again as Brian Fiddes put a pass on the tape of Chase Tallaire, who made a quick deke left and slid in his 21st of the campaign.
Not done there, the two teams kept clicking offensively, with the Soo’s Holy tipping in a Fiddes blast, via the power play, for a hat trick and Blind River’s Johnny Ramoundos trading goals to make it 5-5 with five minutes to go in regulation.
After overtime solved nothing, extra shots were required to determine a winner.
There, the first seven attempts were foiled, thus setting the stage for Dupuis to glide in before making a quick cut to his left and lifting a backhand over Gilmore’s pad into the upper portion of the net, to give the guests the win.
With the result, the Beavers improved to 16-12-2-0 on the year while the Eagles slipped to 20-6-1-1 overall.
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