Rookie goalie backstops Blind River to win over Iroquois Falls

IROQUOIS FALLS – Celebrating his 17th birthday Sunday, Blind River Beavers goaltender Noah Tegelaar stopped all but one shot he faced to backstop his team to a 6-1 triumph over the Iroquois Falls Storm in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League matinee at Jus Jordan Arena.

Blind River began the day’s scoring nearly eight minutes into the contest when Piper Post put a play towards the net that was kept out, but Mason Morden moved in to collect the loose puck and fire it over the glove of Iroquois Falls netminder Connor Dunham-Fox.

Adding another while on a power play, the Beavers worked the play around up top and saw Tyler Vorstadt put a pass along to blueline to Josh Thompson, who moved in from the point into the left circle where he snapped a shot upstairs for his seventh goal and 20th point of the season.

Continuing to press the pace, the visitors went ahead by three in the second after Clark Furman battled deep and sent a feed out front to Evan Fraccaro, who made a number of quick dekes and tucked his chance past the pad of Dunham-Fox.

Another extra-man marker made it 4-0 for the guests when Andrey Manov pumped a shot from up high off the end boards that came out to Jakob Kovacs on the right side, where he quickly snapped it in.

Cutting into the deficit right after that, Iroquois Falls got a friendly bounce off the end boards that allowed Charlie Crump to send a blast on Tegelaar that was stopped, only to see Max Jugnauth dart in and deposit the rebound at 15:58.

Moving to the final frame, the Beavers tacked on another when Joseph Rotilio dropped a feed to Post in the slot where he ripped it into the top right-hand corner at 5:43.

Capping off his birthday, Tegelaar came across to make a big pad save on a shorthanded Storm two-on-one, then saw the Beavers dart up ice in transition, where Furman fed Thompson driving hard to the paint and had him guide in the set-up.

The victory has the rookie Tehelaar now sitting at 6-0-0-0 in NOJHL play while Blind River moved to 10-4-0-0 overall.

With the loss, Iroquois Falls fell to 4-9-0-0.
- NOJHL Network Media