COCHENOUR, Ont. – Triggered by four-point nights from Spencer Milne, Michael Di Lullo and Jacob Siebenga, the English River Miners blasted the Thief River Falls Norskies 9-2 Friday in Superior International Junior Hockey League play at Cochenour Arena.
After the Norskies’ Michael Johnson opened the scoring four and a half minutes into the contest, English River stormed back with four goals before the first period was complete to gain the upper hand.
Milne tied it 36 seconds after Johnson’s marker, which was followed by the initial tallies from Dante Tisi, Landon Russell as well as Nic Herringer’s 10th overall to make it 4-1 after one.
Action in the middle stanza saw Milne connect on a power play chance at 3:03 to chase Thief River Falls starter Bailey Schmitz in favour of Jackson Nelson as the home side went up by four.
The goaltending change seemed to spark the visitors briefly as Tate Steffan picked up his first SIJHL goal a couple minutes later.
However the Miners came right back with markers from Sam Cirone and Siebenga to go up 7-2 after two.
English River then finished off the romp in the third with offensive efforts from Mark Ziobro and Di Lullo to wrap things up.
Stratton Pickett also had a solid night for the Miners by doling out three assists in the triumph.
Michael Lenko made 33 saves to record the win while Schmitz and Nelson faced a combined 28 shots in defeat as the Norskies dropped a season-high third straight outing.
The same two teams will meet again Saturday at 7:30 p.m. back at Cochenour Arena.
Photo credit: Patrick Boucha