Jake Nimmo picked up a hat trick and Brandon Ireland scored two as the Lakeshore Canadiens easily beat the Petrolia Flyers Friday night 9-1 at Atlas Tube Centre.
The Canadiens move into second place in the PJHL Stobbs Division standings with 43 points, four behind the leading Essex 73s.
Nimmo began to make his mark early in the game, scoring his first goal at 1:16 into the opening period. Ireland would score his two goals within the last four minutes of the first period, the first at 16:16 on the power play, the other over two minutes later, so the Canadiens had a 3-0 lead after one period of play.
Lakeshore added two goals in the second period, from Ameen Fadel and Colin Sartor. The Flyers finally got on the board in the third period as Curtis Helps connected with the extra-man advantage at 6:09 into the stanza. Nimmo picked up his second goal of the evening 36 seconds later. The Canadiens would drive the game home with three more unanswered goals, from, in order, Connor Rosaasen, Kyler Carter and Nimmo's hat trick completion.
Lakeshore fired 54 shots at Petrolia goalies Riley Collins and Chaska Thiel, who turned away 45 of them. Mitch Topliffe stopped 32 of the Flyers' 33 shots.
Both teams take a few days off for Christmas, with Petrolia visiting Essex on Tuesday night. Lakeshore will host the 73s on Friday, Dec 30.
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Kyle Smith scored twice as the Mooretown Flags hung on to beat the Amherstburg Integrity Admirals at home Friday night 4-3.
It was the second loss in a row for Amherstburg after winning 11 in a row. The Admirals are in third place in the Stobbs Division with 42 points, one behind Lakeshore. Mooretown is in fifth place with 31 points.
It would be Ryan Alexander opening the scoring for Amherstburg, giving the Admirals an initial 1-0 lead just 50 seconds into the opening period. The Flags would score three unanswered goals in that period, Ben Morrison tying it up at 8:06, followed by Smith's first goal at 9:59, and then Ryan Lyle with 56 ticks left in the frame for a 3-1 Mooretown lead.
The Admirals got a goal back in the second period from Cory Burns, but Mooretown regained their two-goal lead with Smith's second goal at 7:33. Ryan Holzel would score for Amherstburg at 3:03 in the third period but there would be no more scoring from either side after that.
There were no visits to the penalty box for either team in the entire contest. Nolan Hakr got 36 saves for the Mooretown win. Connor O'Reilly manned the crease for two periods for Amherstburg before being replaced in the third for Catalin Morin.
The Admirals welcome Wheatley to the Libro Centre on Wednesday night. Mooretown's next opponent is also the Sharks, but they will not meet till the new year, Wednesday, Jan 4.
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Dillon Liberty got a hat trick and Ryan Malott added two goals in the first period as the Dresden Kings rolled against the Wallaceburg Lakers 7-2 at Lambton-Kent Memorial Centre.
The Lakers go into the Christmas break with just three points, from one win and one overtime loss. Dresden is in seventh place with 25 points in the Stobbs Division.
Malott's goals came within the last four minutes of the opening period and provided Dresden with a 2-0 first intermission lead. The Kings picked up where they left off after the break with two more unanswered goals with Eric Carter scoring at 3:23 and Liberty scoring his first goal on the power play 27 seconds later. Wallaceburg's Trevor Waller got the Lakers on the scoreboard at 9:02 in the second period, but the Kings would reciprocate over two and a half minutes later with a Macks Holmes goal.
Liberty scored his second goal in the 90th second of the third period. Wallaceburg would not score again until 18:48 of the period on a power play score by Garret Wojcicki. Liberty's hat trick would come with 51 seconds left in regulation.
The Lakers were only able to fire 15 shots at Dresden goaltender Joel Sowinski. The Kings got 41 shots.
Dresden completes a home-and-away against the Lakers in Wallaceburg on Wednesday night.