Hawks, Elks open with wins

Day one action of the Thunder Bay Junior B Hockey League’s annual Joe Ward Memorial preseason tournament kicked off Thursday at the Tournament Centre with the defending champion Northern Hawks and Nipigon Elks coming away with opening night victories.

Game one of the four-day event saw the Hawks double up the Jr. B Stars 8-4 while Nipigon followed that up with a 12-7 triumph over the Schreiber Falcons in a high-scoring affair.

In the opener, Justin Elvish and Justin Tougas gave the Hawks an early two-goal lead before Andrew Vinet cut the deficit in half at 15:48 of the first period.

Newcomer Nick Brimmer would restore the two-goal cushion as he struck on the power play with just five seconds remaining in the frame.

The Hawks would make it 5-2 after 40 minutes as Geoff Vaillant and Jeremy Yocum sandwiched markers around the Stars’ Noah Cain’s effort.

Cain’s second of the night 4:48 into the third made it close as he struck shorthanded, but the Hawks would take control with strikes 24 seconds apart by Brett Biasiol and Brimmer to make it 7-3 with 12 minutes to go.

A third in the contest for Cain midway through the session trimmed the margin once again only to see Will Moore round out the scoring at 12:28.

Markus Leikkari picked up the win in net for the Hawks while Joey Wanzuk suffered the loss for the Stars.

The second game saw the Elks and newly-minted Falcons combine for 19 goals as both Nipigon netminder Brandon Martin and Schreiber’s Chase Hamilton saw plenty of rubber fired in their respective directions.

The Elks would grab a 5-3 lead after the opening stanza on a pair of tallies from Wayne Routhier while Matthew Mickleburgh, Cole Saunders and Nick Parry supplied singles.

Lee Stevens, Sal Moses and Dustin Taylor would find the back of the net for the Falcons in the period.

Each side would notch three goals apiece in the middle frame with Dylan Duranceau adding a pair while Moses tacked on another for Schreiber as Steven St. Jean, Maxim Verville and Parry did the damage for the Elks.

Nipigon would put it away in the third as Jessie Assunmaa fired a hat-trick, which were all set-up by St. Jean. Aric Stein had the other goal while Taylor’s second of the game concluded the goal scoring for the Falcons.

Four more games are on the slate Friday beginning with the Stars taking on the Northern Renegades in their first-ever contest at 12:30 p.m. followed by the Hawks and Falcons at 3 p.m.

The evening games have Nipigon taking on the Renegades at 5:30 p.m. while the Stars and Falcons meet in the night-cap at 8 p.m.

The championship game goes Sunday at 3 p.m. back at the Tournament Centre.