The Northern Hawks closed out the 2011 portion of the Thunder Bay Junior B Hockey League schedule on a winning note Thursday evening, as they dumped the Nipigon Elks 8-2 at Nipigon Arena.
A high-scoring opening period saw the two sides combine for six goals, including four by the visitors.
After the Elks’ Tyler Assunmaa opened the scoring four minutes into the contest, the Hawks responded with three tallies of their own in a span of 3:18 as Justin Veltri, Brett Biasiol and Nathan Spina all found the back of the net.
Steven St. Jean’s 15th of the season brought Nipigon back to within one at 16:05 only to see Cary Brown notch a power play marker with a minute to go in the session.
Justin Affleck and Brown extended the Hawks’ lead to 6-2 after 40 minutes, which spelled the of Elks’ netminder Mitchell Barr’s night.
Thomas Gratz came in for relief to commence the final stanza but he was greeted by markers from Jordy Armiento along with Spina’s second of the night and 21st of the campaign to round out the scoring.
Veltri also added three assists to aid the Northern Hawks offensive outburst.
Markus Leikkari made 39 stops to pick up the win for his side as they improved to a league-best 16-1 overall.
Barr and Gratz combined to face 52 shots in a losing cause for the second place Elks who saw their record slip to 14-3.
League play resumes Friday, Jan. 6 as the same two sides meet once again back in Nipigon. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
