FRENCH RIVER – A Bryson Villeneuve marker 3:21 into overtime was the difference as the Iroquois Falls Storm skated away with a 4-3 triumph versus the French River Rapids in a tightly-contested Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League affair at Noelville Arena.
It was the Storm who began the scoring 8:15 into the match-up when
Mathieu Ouellette was sent in alone off a feed from his own zone by Colin Chesnut, then made a couple of crafty dekes before tucking in his 16th tally, while having just one hand on his stick, in eluding Rapids’ starter Matis Bureau-Morel.
Answering back with an equalizer on the power play at 11:16, French River’s Ralph Coulis quickly snapped in a rebound off a Nolan McVeigh attempt from the left point past Iroquois Falls netminder Nathan Boudreau.
Still tied at 1-1 into the middle session, the clubs traded tallies once again to knot the score at 2-2 after 40 minutes.
Simon Lemieux put the visitors back in front at 11:52 when he picked off a play in the neutral zone then darted into the Rapids’ end where he whistled one in from the right circle.
Tying it up once more, French River’s Ty Berube lifted in a second chance off a scrambled draw in Iroquois Falls territory.
Third period play saw the Rapids strike quickly to take their first lead thanks to Jack Wilson, who raced in alone on a breakaway and wired a shot over the glove of Boudreau at 1:44.
Pulling even themselves, while up a skater, Ouellette potted his second of the evening as he took a pass from Lemieux then zipped it past Bureau-Morel from the right side.
Heading to OT, Iroquois Falls pulled out the win on a two-on-one when Noah Logan’s head-man feed sent the Storm up on an odd-man rush that saw Rafek Dianov fire one across that Villeneuve collected and pumped into the right corner to end it.
Both teams will close out their respective seasons Saturday as the Storm travel to Powassan, while French River hosts Hearst in a pair of 7 p.m. starts.
