Game Over - Skyhawks eliminated in game 7(updated)

The North Bay Skyhawks season came to a screeching halt on Thursday night as the Soo Indians edged the Skyhawks 5-3 in game 7 of the best-of-seven NOJHL semi-final.

The sixth seed Skyhawks eliminated the Abitibi Eskimos in 6 games in the quarter-finals and on Tuesday they avoided elimination with a 3-1 win at home.

It is the first time since the franchise moved to North Bay that the Skyhawks have failed to reach the finals.

Although coming out firing on all cylinders in the first period outshooting the Indians 15-8 and getting the first goal of the game by Brad Hummel, who netted his first of two on the night, the Skyhawks went to the dressing room after 20 minutes tied at 1-1.

Things went south for the Skyhawks in the second frame as they surrendered four goals,while adding only two of their own to go into the final 20 minutes trailing 5-3.

The Skyhawks would out-shoot the Indians 13-9 in the third as they tried to come back, but couldn't get any bounces. They now find themselves packing in their hockey gear for the summer after a solid run into the playoffs.

North Bay's head coach Darren Turcotte believes his team could've easily wound up on the winning side of the scoreboard, especially after completely dominating the first period of play.

"We dominated them in the first," he said after the game by phone. "We came out in the second and they(Indians) got it going, got some momentum and we couldn't get it back."

The Skyhawks played well the entire playoffs and the coach isn't blaming anyone for the teams misfortunes in their final game.

"I'm not going to blame the defense or the goalie, I haven't done that all year and i'm not starting now," Turcotte said.

The Skyhawks, who had 43 shots in the stanza, just couldn't find a way to beat Brennan Poderzay consistently enough Thursday night. The Indians goaltender rebounded from a rare off game Tuesday night at Memorial Gardens when the Indians lost 3-1, with Poderzay looking shaky, surrendering a pair weak goals.

Despite managing only 30 shots to North Nay's 43, the Indians got some bounces and held off a tenacious Skyhawk attack.

"The bottom line is we played a top team in game seven in their home rink...we probably should have had a couple goals in the first, but walked out tied 1-1," Turcotte explained.

The other Skyhawks tally was recorded by Adam Cook, while North Bay's assists were handed out by A.J Shiverdecker and Josh Diamond each having a pair. Nick Kulas, Brad Norkum and Chris Van Laren added single helpers.

Soo goals went to Sam Yearsley, Scott Pulak, Isaac Viau, Austin Brown and Mike Connolly, with Nick Zilka, James Ciotti, Isaac Viau, J.D KIng and Austin Brown picked up assists for the Indians.

Three stars of the game recognition went to Isaac Viau, Brennan Poderzay and Brad Hummel respectively.

The game at the Big Bear arena drew a mere crowd of only 239 spectators.

The two top teams in the regular season will now square off in the finals, which sees the league's stingiest defense(Indians)face off against the league's top scoring offense(Sudbury). Game time for the finals has not yet been scheduled.