Despite a gutsy effort by an ever-improving Blind River squad, the Soo Jr. Greyhounds used a five-goal second period outburst to beat the Beavers 9-3 Wednesday night at Memorial Gardens.
The Beavers, who beat the Jr. Hounds 6-5 in overtime in the last meeting between the two clubs, opened the scoring 1:52 into the game as Patrick Keating scored his 11th goal of the season, on Blind River's first shot of the game. The goal prompted Jr. Hounds' head coach Jim Capy to pull starter Shane Bellini in favour of backup Rob Cundari, who played the rest of the way.
The Jr. Hounds bounced back just under five minutes later when defenceman James Marcey beat Blind River goalie Brock Lees to tie the game. The Beavers regained the lead when Darren Rainville, brother of Jr. Hound forward Jeff Rainville, scored a power play goal.
The Jr. Hounds then took a lead that they would not relinquish when Matt West and Joey Coccimiglio scored 21 seconds apart late in the period.
In the second period the Jr. Hounds broke the game open. Midway through the period, Matt West gave the Jr. Hounds a two goal cushion with his second goal of the night. David Paul got the Beavers back to within one goal 40 seconds later, but successive goals from Adam Campbell, Matt Hall -- with a pair -- and Kelly Thompson gave the Jr. Hounds an 8-3 lead heading into the final frame.
In the third period, Thompson capped off the Jr. Hound scoring with his second goal of the night 3:34 in to give the Jr. Hounds the 9-3 victory.
Barnabas Birkeland had a big night for the Jr. Hounds with five assists in the game. Coming off a four-goal outburst against Espanola one week earlier, Sammy Colizza chipped in with three helpers. In addition to his goal, Coccimiglio added four assists.
In goal, Cundari stopped 25 of the 27 shots he faced to gain the victory between the pipes. Next action for the Jr. Hounds will be Monday, January 27th when the Espanola Screaming Eagles are in town.