Jr. Trappers forward JP Kascsak waits for a rebound that he would fire past Royals goalie Mikell Bilodeau in the 2nd period. Photo by Chris Dawson. It's hard to imagine treating a game in December as a must-win, but the North Bay Jr.
Jr. Trappers forward JP Kascsak waits for a rebound that he would fire past Royals goalie Mikell Bilodeau in the 2nd period. Photo by Chris Dawson.
It's hard to imagine treating a game in December as a must-win, but the North Bay Jr. A Trappers played that way Sunday night at Memorial Gardens -- and were rewarded.
Two goals by JP Kascsak and Jonathan Dionne in a 23-second span midway through the second period broke a 3-all tie to lift the Trappers to a 5-4 nailbiting win over Temiscaming to snap a five-game losing skid.
Nickel City midget Alex Bottigoni got his first career NOJHL goal and added an assist for North Bay (10-13-3), who pull even in points with third-place Abitibi in the NOJHL East with 23.
Dionne, who's first of the year was the eventual game winner, also had a helper while Darnell Koosees and Cory Sellers added the other goals for the Trappers.
"It wasn't easy but the guys came through," said Trappers head coach Ian Swalucynski after the game.
"We knew what was on the line, everybody knew what was on the line, we had to win tonight. Guys want to stop losing, guys are feeling the pressure," said Swalucynski, who credited special teams and defensive zone adjustments for the win.
"We wanted to win, we had to win."
NOJHL leading scorer Andre Leclair had a hat trick to give him 27 goals in 27 games plus an assist for second-place Temiscaming (13-11-3), who earned four of six possible weekend points.
"It's a testament to the guys wanting to win and wanting to battle," said Royals head coach Steve McCharles.
"They continue to work hard for us," he said. "We just want to get better and be ready for the playoffs."
The Royals struck fast in this one, as a Trapper giveaway just inside the Temiscaming blueline resulted in Andre Leclair going in alone and beating North Bay goalie Michael Codina-Lucia stick side 39 seconds in thanks to a nifty stretch pass from Robin Mendelsohn.
The Trappers then found their scoring touch, notching three goals on three consecutive shots in a span of 92 seconds a few minutes later.
Darnell Koosees one-timed a pass from the left circle off and over the glove of Royals backup netminder Mikell Bilodeau at 6:26.
Then on the power play, a Sellers low blast from the right point snuck by Bilodeau's left pad at 7:41.
Bottigoni swooped in from the right wing just 17 seconds later to make it a 3-1 North Bay lead.
The Royals would get a shorthanded marker to narrow the lead to one before the opening period was over.
After an icing call against the Trappers, Leclair won the faceoff, pushed the puck ahead to himself and fed it to Chris Hebert on the doorstep, who tipped it past Codina-Lucia's glove at 14:10.
Determination by the Royals power play unit evened the score at 7:05 of the third. After several whacks at Codina-Lucia's left pad, it finally came away from the post allowing Leclair to push the puck over the goal line.
Cue another scoring flurry, again on consecutive shots, from the Trappers.
A neutral zone turnover led to a 2-on-1 North Bay rush. Brennan Wright's original shot was stopped by Bilodeau, but Kascsak, the trailer on the play, easily slapped it past an out-of-position Bilodeau at 9:40.
Dionne then snapped one high over Bilodeau's right shoulder from the slot at 10:03 to restore the two-goal lead.
That was all for Bilodeau, who was replaced by the red-hot Matt Zawadski after giving up five goals on just 13 shots.
Zawadski stopped all 11 shots he saw in relief, and now hasn't been scored on in 105 minutes and 27 seconds, a span which includes a 48-save shutout overtime win in Abitibi Saturday night.
"Matt has been unbelievable this weekend to say the least," said McCharles.
Codina-Lucia made some key stops of his own, including two big ones on a lengthy 5-on-3 Royals man advantage late in the second.
"They were huge," said Swalucynski. "He didn't stop them all but he stopped the ones he had to."
Despite having played three games in three nights, the Royals applied constant pressure throughout the final period.
Leclair drew Temiscaming back within one on the man advantage after he tipped in a crisp cross-ice feed from Chris Hebert from the doorstep 45 seconds into the third.
However, with Zawadski pulled in favour of a sixth attacker for the final 65 seconds, the Royals failed to get a good scoring chance to equalize.
North Bay, who was outshot 29-24, also inserted Trapper AAA midgets Danny Desrochers and Brodie Whitehead into the lineup to replace the injured Jon Aubertin and Jamie Olivier, and Sacha Guimond, who's still awaiting the completion of a trade to the OHL's London Knights, which is expected on Monday.
"I like this experience, it's awesome," said Desrochers, 15, who also played Friday night in Temiscaming and has not looked out of place.
"It's a lot stronger, a lot faster," he said. "I want to play good defensive zone first and then work offensively (after)."
Swalucynski hopes Aubertin, the team's leading scorer, will be in the lineup along with a new defenceman when the Trappers next play Wednesday in Sudbury against the division leaders. The Trappers return home to face Abitibi Friday night.
GAME NOTES: The Trappers presented Tom Hedican with their Coach4Food donations collected in the community this past week prior to the game. Combined with donations fans brought to the game, 2,500 pounds of food were donated to the North Bay Food Bank...Hedican, a goalie with the Trappers in the 1970's, was presented with his own team jersey before the game, and dropped the puck for the ceremonial pre-game faceoff....Hedican presided over a practice for the Bantam Trappers during the first intermission as part of Coach4Food...The three stars were Dionne, Leclair and Bottigoni...Announced attendance was a season-high 876...the Trappers were 1-for-4 on the power play, Temiscaming 2-for-6...the Trappers received six of the 10 penalties issued by referee Dennis Harling...the win is the Trappers's first in regulation at home since Sept. 26.
