With exhibition action in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League underway, the Elliot Lake Red Wings picked up a convincing win over the Espanola Express on Friday night at the Espanola Regional Recreation Complex.
The Red Wings jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the opening period en route to an 11-2 win over the Express.
A strong start thanks to goals by Ethan Mercer, Brodie Kearns and Dayton Clarke gave the Red Wings the early lead before the visitors tacked on four more in the middle stanza to break the game open further.
Kearns, Silas Crawford, Tyson Bradford and Quinn Gavin-White all connected to put the guests up by six through before Espanola got two back late in the period thanks to Owen Harris and Adam Shillinglaw.
Any hopes of a comeback were dashed in the third as Elliot Lake put it away with a four-goal outburst to win going away.
Netting those tallies were Cameron Dial, Jovani Moses, Teegan Dumont and Alex Antoine.
Brock McNaugton also chipped in offensively for the Red Wings by doling out four assists.
Nolan Chartrand picked up the win in two periods of work while Ryder Gregga played the third.
Reid Gates and Vaughn Le Drew both saw time in net for the Express in defeat.
The two clubs are set to meet again tonight in a 7:30 p.m. start locally at Centennial Arena.
In other games on Friday, the Powassan Voodoos topped Kirkland Lake 2-1 in overtime and Timmins Rock also defeated Hearst Lumberjacks 2-1.