GALLERY: Blind River edges French River 5-4

BLIND RIVER, Ont. – Sam Harris tallied twice while Caleb Serre dished out three assists to help lead the Blind River Beavers to a 5-4 decision over the French River Rapids Sunday afternoon in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action at the Blind River Community Centre.

A free-wheeling opening frame saw the two sides combine for five goals in the session with Blind River picking up the first three markers while French River capped off the period with two of their own.

Harris shorthanded and Brendan Young on the power play started things off for the Beavers while teammate Ryan Peck had one via the man advantage to put the home side up by three early.

However, the Rapids battled back in the back half of the stanza with even strength efforts courtesy of Hunter Brazier and Will Frustaglio.

The visitors then tied it quickly in the middle stanza with Frustaglio potting another, which came 14 seconds in as he reached the 14-tally total on the campaign.

Regrouping, Blind River tacked on two later in the period with Justin Mauro tying it, then Harris connecting once more to make it 5-3 after two periods of play.

French River’s Cooper Bowman brought the guests back to within one with 11:49 left in regulation, but the Beavers held firm the rest of the way to secure the win.

Shots on goal in the contest favoured the Beavers by a 67-44 margin with Jackson Hjelle registering his first NOJHL victory in net for Blind River while Marshall Frappier was busy in defeat for the Rapids.

Photos courtesy of Christal Serré