Steven St. Jean and Brandon Polhill had three points
apiece while Thomas Gratz made 29 stops in spotless relief helping
the Nipigon Elks rally for a 6-4 triumph over the Screaming Eagles
Friday in Thunder Bay Jr. B/Juvenile/AAA Hockey League action at the
Nipigon Community Centre.
George Ossachuk would open the scoring the Elks as he beat Eagles
goaltender Brandon Martin six minutes into the contest.
The Eagles would then respond by chasing Nipigon netminder Ryan
Williams in favour of Gratz with four unanswered tallies before the
opening period was complete.
Jesse Wawia-Boucher would tee up a pair of power play blasts with
the first two goals, which were followed by solo efforts courtesy of
Nathan Calder and Justin Peters.
St. Jean would cue the Nipigon comeback with the only scoring of the
middle stanza to make it a 4-2 contest after 40 minutes.
Ossachuk’s second of the night early in the third made it a one-goal
game before Cole Saunders buried his 10th of the campaign to tie it
at 6:21.
St. Jean would then notch the eventual game-winner 29 seconds later
before going on to set-up Polhill with some insurance at 13:38.
With the win the Elks improved to 12-9-4 on the year while the
Eagles slipped to 4-17-4.
League play resumes Tuesday as Nipigon travels to Thunder Bay to
take on the Jr. B Stars at the Tournament Centre. Game time is 8
p.m.