Alouettes inch closer to second round

The Als Dan Madigan celebrates a game-tying goal on Saturday night in Sturgeon Falls. The Als would go on to win the game 8-5. Photo submitted.

The Nipissing Alouettes are one game away from advancing to the second round for the first time in the team's three year history. Robin Mendelsohn scored his second hat trick in as many games while linemate André Leclair added 6 points in an 8-5 win over the Oro-Medonte 77's on Saturday night in front of a rawcous crowd at the Sturgeon Falls Arena.

David Tagvoryan added two goals for the Alouettes while Leclair, Dan Madigan and Greg Hyde rounded out the scoring. Ryan Brain, Nathan Joy and Jason Sills scored for the 77's. Tagvoryan's second goal, the game winner came at the expense of another 5 minute major penalty to the 77's. This time, it was Mike Wilkinson's slash on Leclair that led to two Als powerplay goals and was again the difference on the night. "As I said last night, if we get our chances on the power play, we'll score some goals and we showed that again tonight" said Als coach Lui Ricci.

The Alouettes power play was once again very effective tonight as they scored 5 times in 8 opportunities. Pat Beaudry picked up his second win in goal making 38 saves as he was especially sharp while the Als were shorthanded. Josh Sinotte took the loss making 20 saves on the night.

The series now shifts to Oro-Medonte for game 3 on Sunday night. Game time is 7:00 p.m. Fans will be able to follow the game with a live boxscore on gmhl.net.

Submitted to BayToday.ca