Sept. 27/07--Day one of the Thunder Bay Jr. B/Juvenile/AAA Hockey League pre-season tournament for the Joe Ward Memorial Trophy saw the Nipigon Elks and Northern Hawks post opening night wins Thursday at the Tournament Centre.
Game one of the night saw Nipigon jump out to a 3-0 lead en route to a 8-1 victory over the North End Flames while the Hawks edged the K&A Wolverines 3-2 in a penalty-filled affair in the night cap.
Corey McDonald paced the Elks firing a hat trick while Travis Komar, with a pair, Mitch Joyce, Bryan Hay and Mike Ray had the other Nipigon markers. Davis Buchanan kicked out 35 shots in earning the win in goal.
Matt Raynak had the lone North End marker while Matthew Morin was saddled with the loss in net as he faced 49 shots.
The late game saw the Hawks and Wolverines combine for 229 penalty minutes and a one-goal Hawks victory.
Brian Sippila, Rory Romano and P. Drombolis tallied for the Hawks while Ben Letowski and Curtis Dowswell countered for K&A.
Kirk Bodnar made 33 saves as the winning goaltender while Kelly Heikkila suffered the loss for the Wolverines as he saw 27 shots fired in his direction.
Action in the pre-season tourney continues throughout the weekend at the Tournament Centre with the final slated for Sunday at 3 p.m.
