Photos: Cassy Seguin
FRENCH RIVER – The French River Rapids saw Nolan Masson tally twice, including collecting the game-winner, to help his club down the Elliot Lake Vikings 6-2 Saturday night in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest held at Noelville Arena.
The starting goaltenders kept it scoreless through 20 minutes with the Vikings’ Brogan Colquhoun and the Rapids’ Carter Vicente holding firm.
In the second stanza, French River broke out of their own zone quickly in numbers, which led to Cameron Jansa laying a nice feed to Dominic Bzdyl, who neatly cut to his right and eased in his chance.
Elliot Lake came back to tie it at 11:09 as Yenry Jibb finished off a crisp three-way passing play.
Retaking the lead deep in the frame, Masson put the home side back on top by hammering a shot from between the circles to give him 17 points in his past 13 contests.
Extending their edge while up a skater in the third, Masson bagged another as he moved in from the blueline and picked the short-side corner on Colquhoun.
Adding some insurance in the late going, Tucker Roberts wired one in from the slot before Noah Szczurek chipped in a chance from the right side.
Dayden Collier tipped in an attempt that came from up top during a man advantage for the Vikings in eluding Brock Grein, who came in for Vicente after the latter was dispatched from the contest by the officials for an infraction.
In the end, Bzdyl iced it with a shorthanded, empty net effort, to wraps things up.
The win sees French River improve to 8-12-1-2 and in defeat, Elliot Lake falls to 5-15-0-0.
