The Rayside-Balfour Canadians are thankful for a small cushion they have built up over the chase pack.
Facing the two teams most closely on their heels over the weekend, the local NOJHLers would see the gap shrink, falling on Saturday night at home to the Soo Eagles (2-1) and dropping a 5-2 decision the next afternoon, on the road, to the Blind River Beavers.
When the dust settled Monday morning, the Rayside lads still held down second place in the West Division with a record of 18-10-2-1, five points ahead of Blind River (17-12-0-0) and seven up on the Eagles (15-15-2-0).
The American entry inched a little closer following their weekend trip to Chelmsford, as Rhett Rampinelli snapped a 1-1 tie, scoring the game winning goal with just 3:37 remaining for the Eagles.
The teams, which produced a 1-0 contest back on September 25th, were well on their way to duplicating the feat, scoreless through forty minutes in their latest meeting.
Zac McKenna opened the scoring for the Soo, solving Cameron Lamour at 4:38 of the third period, with defenseman Brett Whitehead pulling the Canadians even just over three minutes later.
The visitors outshot the homeside 36-27, as Lamour garnered second star honours, sandwiched between Rampinelli (1st) and Whitehead (3rd). The tough loss appeared to take the wind out of the Rayside sails the next day, as the Beavers scored three unanswered first period goals and never looked back.
Leading the way was Toronto native Yianni Liarakas, who extended his point scoring streak to twenty games by netting the ice-breaking tally, on the power play, just over five minutes in. His recent torrid stretch has moved the Blind River sniper into a third place tie in the scoring race, dead even with Andy Baker (Powassan), and trailing only Braedan Cross (Cochrane) and Gary Mantz (Powassan).
Joining Liarakas on the scoresheet were Anthony Pullicino, Caleb Serre, Cole Peck and Max Khull, with Kyle Liinamaa and captain Danny Lepage both drilling home their fifth goal of the year.
The Beavers outshot the Canadians 41-40, as Lamour earned a second straight start, while Myles Hektor picked up the win in net for Blind River. The visitors were without the services of rookie forward Evan Krassey, suspended three games for an accumulation of "head contact" infractions.
Coach Dave Clancy and company close out the 2016 portion of their schedule with four more outings, two on the road and two at home. This coming weekend, the Rayside reps will head out of town, facing the Espanola Express (6-21-0-1) and Timmins Rock (18-8-2-0), returning to Chelmsford on December 17th and 18th, hosting the Express and the Elliot Lake Wildcats (10-19-1-1).
