SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. – Carter McPhail stopped all 22 shots he faced to post his first Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League shutout Friday as the Soo Eagles went on to blank the Hearst Lumberjacks 3-0 in front of 672 fans at Pullar Stadium.
Hearst was outshot by Sault Ste. Marie 14-10 in the opening 20 minutes, but it remained scoreless thanks to the efforts of goaltenders’ McPhail of the Eagles and the Lumberjacks’ Artem Bortovskiy.
The Soo did open the night’s scoring five and a half minutes into the middle stanza compliments of Christian Bardarson’s 10th tally of the season.
A Kobe Keller man advantage marker at 16:56 of the frame then allowed the Eagles to go up by a pair after 40 minutes.
Third period play saw the home side add another during an early power play with Hayden Clark collecting his initial league marker at 1:23.
McPhail and the Soo defensive corps did the rest to secure the home ice victory.
Owen Kipke collected a pair of assists to aid the Eagles cause while McPhail also had a helper to go along with his shutout.
Bortvoskiy faced 48 attempts in defeat for Hearst.
