Carlson nets winner as Skyhawks even series

Skyhawks Joey Imbeau (far right) gets a shot on goal stopped by Wolves goalie Paul Pidutti. Photo by Chris Dawson.

Ian Carlson has been known more for his defensive role this season with the Skyhawks, but on this night his offence was the key as he scored a goal that might have turned the series around for the North Bay Skyhawks.

With four minutes remaining in regulation and the game tied 1-1, Carlson took a pass from Nick Kulas and fired a low shot past Paul Pidutti for the game winning goal in a 2-1 Skyhawks victory.

“I saw Kulas coming off the wall and he drew three guys to him and he had the puck on his stick and he kind of laid it back to me and I was all alone and I just saw an opening short side and I just had to bury it and I did,” said an elated Carlson who called that the biggest goal he’s ever scored in his hockey career.

The victory puts the Skyhawks right back into the NOJHL final series after losing 5-1 at home and 6-2 in Sudbury to give the Jr. Wolves a 2-1 series lead coming into Friday night’s contest at Memorial Gardens.

The Wolves had dominated those two games and appeared to be heading in the same direction early on as Brian McGarry scored the Wolves only goal 57 seconds into the first period on a powerplay goal giving the Wolves the very early lead.

Jr. Wolves head coach Darryl Moxam believes that goal actually did more harm than good.

“I think we were ready to go tonight and I think that first one kind of brought our guys down and right now in a seven game series you can’t get too up, you can’t get too down and I think it brought us down and I think our guys thought they would maybe walk through the third game in a row and it’s not going to happen I mean North Bay’s not going to roll over,” Moxam said.

The Skyhawks tied the game up in the final minute of the first period as Matt Collins fed a pass through a Wolves defender to Joey Imbeau who slipped one through the legs of Wolves goaltender Paul Pidutti to even the score at 1-1.

The game remained 1-1 heading into the third period which was a period full of opportunities for the Skyhawks. Early in the third period Dustin McCrank was robbed point blank, not once, but twice by Pidutti on two great powerplay chances about 30 seconds apart.

After Carlson’s goal the Jr. Wolves had a great chance to even things up as referee Darren Long sent Skyhawks forward Justin Piquette to the box for high sticking with less than three minutes left in regulation.

Skyhawks goaltender Michael Lalande, who was pulled in the first period of game three, made a tremendous pad save off of Brian McGarry on the late powerplay to salvage the victory.

Skyhawks head coach Kevin Kerr now has to prepare his players for game five which takes place on Sunday in Sudbury.

“I’m going to say it again they’ve got a good hockey team over there and you’ve got to give them respect our guys competed and they wanted to win and I give all the credit our players they come to play they want to win and they want to go to the Dudley Hewitt Cup so hopefully we can continue this but it’s a long ways from over,” said Kerr.

Skyhawk Clips

The Skyhawks outshot the Wolves 33-23 on the night. . . Dustin McCrank got the decision in a bout with Jr. Wolves defenceman Brodie Wilson with two seconds remaining in the third period . . . Nugget Sports Reporter Ken Pagan accurately predicted Ian Carlson as the game winning goal scorer in a press box pool. . . The Skyhawks finished 0/8 on the powerplay while the Wolves were 1/7.