The hometown Nipigon Elks rallied from a 5-0 deficit and skated to a 10-7 win over the Northern Hawks in the final Thunder Bay Jr. B Hockey League game of the regular season.
The victory snapped the Hawks 20-game winning streak.
It was all Hawks early on as they stormed out to that five-goal cushion thanks to tallies from Nathan Spina, Brett Biasiol, Joey Kitchen and a pair by Dallas Allaire.
Landon Clearwater’s 25th of the season cued the Elks comeback as he scored with 22 seconds to go in the first period.
After Nipigon’s Mitch Kerr and the Hawks Josh Elvish traded markers in the second stanza, the Elks roared to life with efforts from Sheldon Olson, Mark Dawd, Jansen McDonald-Swazey and Kerr again to make it 6-6 after 40 minutes.
Biasiol put the visitors back on top early in the final frame, but goals 32 seconds apart by Eric Bayko and Clearwater tied it and put Nipigon in front for good.
Dawd and Cole Saunders added empty netters in the final minute to complete the comeback.
Thomas Gratz picked up the win in net for the Elks playing the final two periods in relief of starter Mitchell Barr. Nipigon wrapped up the campaign with a 25-6 record.
Markus Leikkari suffered the loss for Hawks, who saw their lengthy win streak come to an end, but still finished the regular season with a league-best 30-2 mark.
Jr. B playoff action gets underway Friday as the Elks take on the Thunder Bay Stars in game 1 of a best-of-five series at Nipigon Arena. Game time there is 8 p.m.
The league’s other playoff series features the Hawks taking on the Schreiber Filane’s Falcons in another best-of-five affair. That series gets underway Saturday at the Thunder Bay Tournament Centre at 7 p.m.
