The Blind River Beavers scooted up Highway 108 Friday night to meet the Elliot Lake Red Wings in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League (NOJHL) game played at Centennial Arena.
They ran into a fired up Red Wings squad which dominated the first period and third periods in a 5-2 win over the Beavers. The Red Wings scored three times in the opening period and twice more in the third jn the win.
The matchup was scoreless until 8:46 of the first when Red Wings defenceman Owen Ciavoliello scored his second goal of the season with helpers from Josh Tomasi and Teegan Dumont.
The Red Wings extended the lead as Quinn Gavin-White found the back of Blind River's net, helped by Ciavoliello and Kaden Laverdiere, at 13:12.
Just 1:46 later, Red Wings forward Matthew Shulist connected on the power play, beating Beavers netminder Eric Clark at 14:58.
The score was 3-0 Red Wings heading into the first intermission.
Blind River hit the scoreboard for the first time at 5:33 of the second as forward Hunter Berry beat Elliot Lake goaltender Nolan Chartrand.
Beavers foward Caleb Minns scored on the power play at 18:51 of the second, helped by Ethan Pegg and Evan Fraccaro, cutting the Elliot Lake lead to 3-2.
Shulist stepped up with a power play goal at 7:36 of the third before putting the icing on the cake for the Red Wings scoring shorthanded into an empty net at 17::52 of the third.
Friday's win was the Red Wings third win against 10 losses.
Chartrand, between the pipes for Elliot Lake, stopped 27 Blind River pucks that came his way, taking the win.
Clark was good on 30 of the 34 Elliot Lake shots he faced, absorbing the loss.
Laverdiere, Cole Kimble, and Ethan Mercer assisted on two goals each for Elliot Lake.
Elsewhere in Friday night NOJHL play, the Timmins Rock topped the Rapids in French River, also by a 5-2 score.
At home, the Espanola Express edged the Greater Sudbury Cubs 4-3.
Finally, the Powassan Voodoos beat the Cochrane Crunch 3-2.
Next for the Red Wings, a game against the Express in Espanola Saturday night at 7 p.m.