Capped by a three-goal night from Jacob Peterson, including notching the eventual game-winner, the Soo Eagles went on to down the Blind River Beavers 6-2 in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action Saturday, December 20th at Pullar Stadium.
As was the case in the Eagles identical 6-2 victory over the Beavers Friday, Peterson once again opened the scoring in this one as he took a drop pass from Bradyn Walsh and fired it towards the net where the puck clipped off the skate of a defender and eluded Blind River starter Mason Janicki, 55 seconds into the proceedings.
Answering with an equalizer just over 10 minutes later, the Beavers pushed a play ahead out of their zone off a draw that led to Wyatt Jarratt coming down the right wing where he wired a shot past Soo netminder Dalton Hoornstra.
Retaking the lead in the latter stages of the first period, the Eagles’ Gabriel Clark put an attempt to the target from the left point that was blocked, but Ethan Hoff scooped up the rebound in the slot and whipped in his seventh goal of the season.
Another friendly bounce for Peterson midway through the match-up saw him bank another one in with a shot from the left circle to make it 3-1.
Hitting his hat trick at 14:07, Peterson picked off a play and raced up ice while shorthanded before cutting in and depositing his third of the evening to extend the home side’s cushion.
Getting one back while on the power play three minutes into the third, Blind River’s Ryder Hill took a crisp pass between the circles from Camden Cowan and whistled it by Hoornstra.
The Soo countered to restore their three-goal cushion when defenceman Liam Watson pinched in from the point and snagged a loose puck and collected his initial tally of the campaign.
From there, Nolan Nemecek cranked in a blast during a two-man advantage to help put it out of reach with under five minutes to go and complete the night’s scoring.
With the victory, the Eagles raise their record to 12-19-1-1 and with the loss, the Beavers fall to 9-18-0-4.
The NOJHL now enters its holiday break, with game action resuming Sunday, January 4.
