Photos: Turnbull’s Northern Photography
IROQUOIS FALLS, Ont. – The Iroquois Falls Storm saw Mathieu Roy tally twice, while Connor Hatfield posted a shutout, as part of a 7-0 win over the French River Rapids Friday night in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League match-up at Jus Jordan Arena.
While the victory was the eighth of the season for the Storm, it was their first in regulation time on the campaign.
A fast-paced opening period saw neither saw side convert offensively as the clubs hit the intermission still knotted at 0-0.
A mid-game man advantage helped Iroquois Falls opening the scoring as they worked the puck around nicely and set-up Justin McKnight in the left circle where he whipped a shot past French River goalkeeper Michael O’Sullivan.
The Storm then came right back and added another after a dump in bounced over the stick of a Rapids’ defender, which allowed Roy to move in and pump one over the blocker for his second of the season.
Building on their momentum, the home side clicked on power play once more, with Lucas Peever stuffing in a backhand into the open side at 13:35.
Iroquois Falls added some insurance, seven minutes into the third, when Max Jugnauth corralled the puck in the neutral zone, before spinning and moving hard up the right wing, then driving across the crease and while taking O’Sullivan with him, stuffed his chance into the exposed side.
Putting the game away in the late going, Roy, while on his knees, spun around deep in his own zone and banked a shot off the side boards that sailed down the ice into an empty net.
Michael Leetch, on a two-on-one, and Patrice Lafontaine, with another empty netter then finished off the scoring.
The shutout for Hatfield was his first for Iroquois Falls, and third overall this season, after picking up his first two while as a member of the Soo Thunderbirds.
With the outcome, the Storm move to 8-23-0-1 on the year while with the loss the Rapids sink to 8-20-1-0.
