The North Bay Jr. Trappers pour onto the ice in celebration of their shootout win on Sunday night. Photo by Chris Dawson. After a rather woeful month of October, the North Bay Jr. A Trappers may finally be starting to hit their stride.
The North Bay Jr. Trappers pour onto the ice in celebration of their shootout win on Sunday night. Photo by Chris Dawson.
After a rather woeful month of October, the North Bay Jr. A Trappers may finally be starting to hit their stride.
Scott Pawson scored the shootout winner to give the Trappers their second straight win, 3-2 over the Sudbury Jr. Wolves in a gritty, physical NOJHL contest that capped off the inaugural "Trappers Day in the Bay" at Memorial Gardens Sunday night.
It gave the third-place Trappers five out of six possible points for the weekend, moving them one point back of second-place Temiscaming and satisfying the goal set out by head coach Ian Swalucynski.
"We had a game plan, we stuck to the game plan and it worked," Swalucynski said.
"I knew that if we worked hard that we would win, because we were getting bounces, we were smart in our end, smart in the neutral zone and smart in the offensive zone."
It was that solid defensive zone effort that allowed goalie Michael Codina-Lucia to make 28 saves to earn first star honours and his second straight win for the Trappers.
"It feels pretty good, it's been a while since I've been thrown in the fire," said Codina-Lucia, who, before his Trappers debut Thursday night, hadn't seen any game action since February.
"My timing's a little off still, I can't control my rebounds the way I'd would like to," he said.
Swalucynski agrees his new netminder still has a little bit of rust to work out.
"They were both kind of cheesy goals," Swalucynski said.
Sacha Guimond assisted on both Trappers power play goals in the first period, scored by JP Kascsak and Travis Fernley.
Aaron Scott and Nick Esposto scored for East division-leading Sudbury (12-5-4).
The Trappers (9-9-2) led 2-1 after 20 minutes but the Wolves dictated play for much of the second until the Trappers' Eli Davis was taken hard into the end boards at the 13:10 mark.
Davis was clearly dazed as he got to his feet after lying prone on the ice for three minutes, and was sent to hospital with a suspected concussion.
Luc Comtois received a boarding major and a game misconduct for the hit, but the Trappers failed to pad their lead despite six shots on goal during the five-minute man advantage.
Esposto tied the game at 2:13 of the third after the Trappers were unable to clear the puck at the end of a Sudbury power play, beating Codina-Lucia under the left pad with a slapper from the left circle.
Pawson had North Bay's best chance to win it in regulation, backhanding one off the post after a nice individual rush at 8:43.
Codina-Lucia's best stop of the night came with two minutes left in the third, coming across his crease to thwart a 2-on-1.
After a relatively benign overtime, Sudbury's Zach McGillis and Kascsak traded goals. Pawson's game-winner to the top right corner was sandwiched in between pad saves on the Wolves' Evan Daciuk and Mathieu Lecours.
Worth noting is the fact the Trappers played without leading scorer Jon Aubertin, who was scratched after becoming ill following the pre-game warmup.
The Trappers, who were outshot 30-27, next play in Sudbury Wednesday night.
"It's gonna be a war," Swalucynski said.
"We're gonna have to go through each other to get to where both teams want to go. We're excited."
GAME NOTES: Midget 'AAA' Trappers president Scott Kile, credited for the "Trappers Day in the Bay" idea, dropped the puck for the ceremonial pre-game faceoff...the Trappers' Brennan Wright and Sudbury's Michael Rouleau were ejected for fighting 44 seconds after the hit on Davis...Trappers scratches also included the injured Jamie Olivier and Zach Hunter...the Trappers, who received seven of the 15 penalties issued by referee Dennis Harling, were 2-for-4 on the power play, Sudbury 0-for-5...the three stars were Codina-Lucia, Pawson and Wolves' goalie Chris Kaye...Attendance was 793.
