NEWS RELEASE
NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
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SUDBURY – Tyler Fortson of the Soo Eagles supplied a hat trick and dished out an assist to lead the way in a 6-1 triumph versus the French River Rapids in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League Showcase encounter Wednesday at Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex.
Sault Ste. Marie began the scoring 11 and a half minutes into the match-up when Theodore Schubert chipped a puck ahead that Fortson snagged and while driving to the net flipped it over the blocker of French River goaltender Nicholas Tarantella.
Skating four-on-four late in the first, the Eagles added another with Alex Povorozniouk converting as he dangled through a couple of defenders before tucking his chance into an open corner to give him points in four straight contests.
On the power play to commence the middle stanza, the Soo went up by three with Cooper Fredericks connecting as he moved into the left circle and whipped a wrister past Tarantella to give him goals in three straight, while collecting his team-leading sixth tally of the campaign.
Another impressive Eagles marker saw Povorozniouk work his way through a crowd that led to Fortson shovelling in a rebound from in close at the 12-minute mark of the second on Brock Grein, who had entered the proceedings midway through.
The Rapids got on the board late in the frame after Hunter Vilanez generated a turnover while his club was shorthanded and raced down the right wing and sent a feed across to Cameron Jansa who snapped it in by the blocker of Soo netminder Mason Burkes.
The Eagles helped secure the triumph, eight minutes in the third, when Drew Dellies finished off a nice Fortson rush along the left side boards with a tap-in.
Fortson then capped off his impressive afternoon by opting to shoot on a two-on-one ripping it upstairs on Grein to round out the day’s scoring.
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