Beavers double up Rapids

BLIND RIVER, Ont. – Caleb Serre’s Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League-leading 33rd goal of the season broke a third period tie as the Blind River Beavers went on to double up the French River Rapids 4-2 Sunday afternoon at the Blind River Community Centre.

Another red-hot Blind River forward, in Devon Savignac, got the hosts going offensively as he tallied for a seventh straight game just 100 seconds into the contest while notching his 17th marker on the campaign.

French River came back to knot the affair at 14:04 thanks to a Ryan Smith effort as he extended a modest point streak to four consecutive games.

Moving to the middle stanza, the Rapids went in front early in the session compliments of Cooper Bowman at 2:15.

Later in the session, it was the Beavers who countered with the equalizer thanks to David Campbell at 11:25 to help send the two sides to the second intermission knotted at 2-2.

A Blind River power play helped them regain the lead in the third as Serre scored, which with an earlier assist, gave him his seventh consecutive multi-point performance as he etched his name on the scoresheet for a ninth outing in a row.

Jake Behnen then secured the victory with a shorthanded, empty net effort in the final seconds to round out the scoring.

Shots on goal did favour French River by a 42-34 count with Jackson Hjelle getting the win while Ben Mongomery suffered the defeat.