Thunder Bay Jr. B/Juvenile/AAA Hockey News
Hawks take Jr. B playoff opener

March 11--Stefano Lento tallied twice to help lift the Northern Hawks to a 7-4 victory over the Nipigon Elks Tuesday in game one of their Thunder Bay Jr. B/Juvenile/AAA Hockey League semifinal series played at the Tournament Centre.

It was the visiting Elks who got on the board first in this one as Alex Jeffery beat Hawks netminder Kirk Bodnar four minutes into the game.

The Hawks bounced back with three goals in the five final minutes of the opening frame as Ryan McInerney, on the power play, Mark Menei while shorthanded and Lento at even strength all scored on Nipigon goaltender Cody Junttola.

Lento got his second of the night two minutes into the middle stanza while Michael Vis and Mario Figliomeni added later markers to make it 6-1 Hawks before Travis Komar struck on the power play to make it 6-2 after 40 minutes.

Kris Hardy extended the Hawks lead a minute and a half into the third period before Glenn Lockart and Chris Fogg added man advantage marker in the final sevne minutes to conclude the scoring line for the evening.

Jerry Franseze and Curtis Sandberg both chipped in with two assists apiece for the Hawks in the win.

Shots on goal favoured the Hawks by a 40-24 margin as they grabbed a 2-0 lead in the six-point series.

Game two of this semifinal series goes Friday in Nipigon at 7:30 p.m. before returning back to Thunder Bay Saturday for game three back at the Tournament Centre. Game time there is slated for 9 p.m.

The winner of the series will then move on to play the first place K&A Wolverines in an eight-point final.

-JRB/JUV/AAA-