The Northern Hawks scored five times in the opening period and never looked back as they blasted the Schreiber Falcons 10-1 Saturday evening in Thunder Bay Jr. B Hockey League postseason play at the Tournament Centre.
With the victory the Hawks leads the best-of-five semifinals series 1-0 with game 2 set for 3 p.m. Sunday back at the Tournament Centre.
Geoff Vaillant, Mike Mapledoram. Nathan Spina, Nick Brimmer and Cary Brown all found the back of the net in that opening stanza on Schreiber starter Devon Pento.
Dylan Duranceau notched the lone Falcons’ tally early in the second, but the Hawks beat Chase Hamilton, who had come in to replace Pento, three times on efforts from Kyle MacLeod, Justin Tougas and Brimmer to go up 8-1 after 40 minutes.
Spina and Justin Affleck added third period markers to round out the scoring. Spina also dished out a pair of assists for a four-point night.
Markus Leikkari turned aside 16 of the 17 attempts he faced to pick-up the win while Pento and Hamilton saw a combined 44 shots in a losing cause.
The league’s other semifnal also resumes Sunday as the Nipigon Elks host the Thunder Bay Jr. B Stars at 7:30 p.m. at Nipigon Arena. The Stars lead that best-of-five affair 1-0 after winning the opener 7-5 Friday.
