A Joey Kitchen goal with 7:07 remaining proved to be the difference as the Northern Hawks rallied to defeat the Nipigon Elks 3-2 Tuesday evening in Game 1 of the Thunder Bay Jr. B Hockey League championship series at the Tournament Centre.
The Elks would open the scoring courtesy of a power play marker by Landon Clearwater, who beat Hawks’ starter Markus Leikkari five minutes into the contest with his third of the postseason.
Mark Dawd extended the Nipigon lead 5:40 into the second stanza only to see Andrew Groom answer back for the Hawks two minutes later.
Nathan Spina then notched the equalizer midway through the session to send the teams to the dressing rooms tied at 2-2 after 40 minutes.
Shortly after successfully killing off an Elks’ man advantage opportunity in the third period Kitchen slammed home the game-winner with his first of the playoffs as his shot eluded Nipigon netminder Thomas Gratz.
Shots on goal on the night favoured the Hawks by a 38-31 margin.
Game 2 in the best-of-seven affair goes Friday at 8 p.m. back at the Tournament Centre.
The series then shifts to Nipigon Arena for games 3 and 4 Saturday and Sunday at 7 p.m.
The league winner will then advance to the 2012 Keystone Cup Western Canadian Jr. B Championship April 18-22 in Saskatoon, Sask.
