BLIND RIVER, Ont. – An A.J. Saadeh power play blast 2:24 into overtime was the decider as the Blind River Beavers edged the Soo Eagles 4-3 in a hard-fought Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League affair Sunday at the Blind River Community Centre.
Neither side would convert offensively in a scoreless opening 20 minutes.
Breaking the goose egg on an early man advantage in the second stanza, YiBin Yoo gave the Beavers the lead when he steered in a nice crisp pass by Nicholas MacIsaac past Sault Ste. Marie goaltender Jace Knoerle.
Tying it up midway through the match-up, the Eagles’ Tyler Fortson snagged a turnover right in front of Blind River’s Bronx Bodnar and promptly buried it.
Building on that, the Soo made it 2-1 two and a half minutes later thanks to Coulson Bell, who swooped out from behind the net and jammed in a loose puck laying in the crease, while bodies battled in close.
Up a skater in the initial stages of the third, the Beavers’ Wyatt Gibson levelled the affair once more after taking a nice back pass from Keenan Conn, then darted in on the right side before wiring one into the bottom left corner.
The home side then struck shorthanded be go back ahead when Rylan Gibbs moved up and fired a shot that was stopped, but Conn jumped up to chop in the rebound at 8:24.
Answering that, the Soo tied it again thanks to Cooper Fredericks who came down the left wing and roofed one on Bodnar to collect his team-best 32nd goal of the season. He has also now tallied in four straight contests.
Remaining level through the rest of regulation, the contest headed to extra time to determine a winner.
There, Blind River finished off the back-and-forth contest while on the power play when Gibbs teed-up Saadeh up top who cranked a one-timer into the back of the net to win it.
The result sees the Beavers move one point ahead of the Eagles into sole possession of third spot in the NOJHL standings, with both teams having three games remaining in their regular season.
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