Wildcats handle Rapids

NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE

NOJHL NETWORK MEDIA UPDATE

Release Date: Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015

Wildcats handle Rapids

NOELVILLE, Ont. – Three tallies in less than a 10-minute span in the first period, along with the shutout goaltending of Al Rogers, was an ideal combination for the Elliot Lake Wildcats Wednesday night as they went on to blank the French River Rapids 5-0 in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League match-up at Noelville Arena.

Cole Hepler got the Wildcats going 7:29 into the contest as he struck on the power play for his 15th tally of the season while also extending a consecutive game point streak to six in the process.

Matthew Colunga made it 2-0 at 12:54 of the frame while Alec MacKenzie added to the Elliot Lake lead just over four minutes later.

French River opted to replace starter Kyle Martelle in favour of Zach Mills to begin the middle stanza as the two sides tightened up defensively with the period finishing scoreless.

The Wildcats did however go up by four early in the final session thanks to Troy Button’s third and they then rounded out the night’s scoring at 4:18 as Spencer MacLean notched his team-leading 17th tally and ran a point streak to five straight outings.

Rogers finished with 16 saves to post his first NOJHL shutout and pick up the win.

Martelle suffered the loss for the Rapids stopping 11 of 14 in one period of work with Mills handling 32 of 34 in 40 minutes of relief.


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