Canadians derail Express

CHELMSFORD, Ont. – The Rayside-Balfour Canadians broke open a 1-1 second period tie with five unanswered goals in the middle session as they went on to defeat the Espanola Express 13-2 Thursday evening in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League play at Chelmsford Arena.

Rayside-Balfour opened the scoring seven and half minutes into the contest on a Brady Maltais marker.

Espanola came back to tie it midway through the first as Tyler Bourassa and Jackson Heacock combined to set-up Joel Grandbois for his ninth tally of the season.

It was all Canadians in the second stanza however as they connected five times in under a nine-minute span to take control.

James White put the home side back in front at 1:07 before Maltais added another a couple shifts later.

Rayside-Balfour kept coming and tacked on three more with White Baldino Aiello and Evan Krassey adding to the offensive outburst.

Kyle Liinamaa then scored for a sixth straight game as he collected his 15th of the campaign early in the third.

Ethan Lavallee supplied his 10th at 5:39 and the Canadians kept rolling as Krassey, Justin Jankowski, Jordan Spadafore, Maltais with his third, and Ryan O’Bonsawin all found the back of the net in the final frame of the romp.

Tristan Poissant wrapped up the night’s scoring for the Express at 15:32.

In all 10 different players on Rayside-Balfour picked up multiple points in the one-side decision.

Jean-Marc Brisson made 21 saves to record the win while Ryan Hale was pelted with 61 attempts in defeat for Espanola.

The win was the Canadians fourth in a row as they improved to 8-2-1 in their past 11 outings while moving to within four points of the West Division leading Soo Thunderbirds.

Photos courtesy of Rob and Caleigh Fera:  www.sudburylight.ca