ESPANOLA, Ont. – Picking up a first period hat trick, Sam Piette of the Espanola Paper Kings led the way offensively as part of a 7-3 victory over the French River Rapids Tuesday evening in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League exhibition encounter at the Regional Recreation Complex.
A pair of quality in-close chances for the Paper Kings saw them look to open the scoring, but both were denied by Rapids’ starter Calvin Gardner.
However, Espanola came back with a goal on a shorthanded breakaway by Piette, who raced in alone before cutting to his right and tucking in his opportunity, just past the midway mark of the first period.
Answering with an equalizer at 14:35, French River controlled a draw that allowed Tristan Lavoie to control a loose puck and drive in close where he finished off a nice deke by sliding it low by netminder Liam Cheeseman.
Regaining the lead right after that, Chase Cybulskie flipped a play to the crease that knuckled in off a deflection by a defender.
Scoring again right off the draw, Piette powered his way up ice before chipping a chance ahead and connecting in a similar fashion to his initial tally.
Countering off a turnover, the Rapids’ Adrian Berisha was left with a tap in into an open net to make it 3-2.
Finishing off his hat trick, Piette wired one in from the high slot for the game’s sixth goal of the session.
Moving to the middle stanza, the home side went up by three when Everett Force redirected in a Cain Savage point blast.
Supplying his second of the night, early in the third, the Rapids’ Lavoie led a quick rush down the left wing where he wired one upstairs on Cheeseman to make it a 5-3 game.
Matching that, Espanola’s Isaac Bandoo motored up ice with pace with the teams playing four-on-four and sent a pass in front that Savage knocked in.
An impressive marker after that saw Luka Boggio dangle around a couple of French River skaters before picking the corner, on back-up Liam McGill, who went in for the final 20 minutes, with a well-placed snap shot to put it out of reach, in rounding out the scoring.
