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Jr. Trappers blank Bobcats

Brandon Janke (#10) goes to the net in the third period. Photo by Chris Dawson. The North Bay Jr. “A” Trappers (27-6-3-3) put up three goals in the third period, en route to the 3-0 win over the Elliot Lake Bobcats (11-28-0-2) on Friday night.


Brandon Janke (#10) goes to the net in the third period. Photo by Chris Dawson.

The North Bay Jr. “A” Trappers (27-6-3-3) put up three goals in the third period, en route to the 3-0 win over the Elliot Lake Bobcats (11-28-0-2) on Friday night.

Daniel Carter, Stephen Langford and Beau Orser scored the goals for the Traps.

Greg Dodds made 37 saves for his third shutout of the season, all three coming against the Bobcats. Trappers head coach Tom McCarthy pointed out that the three shutouts tied him with Chris Komma of Kirkland Lake on top of that category. His 23 wins, 2.16 goals against average and .932 save percentage leads the league as well.

“He’s very calm in the net, he doesn’t get too razzled,” said McCarthy, “He can handle the puck really well, and move it if necessary but seems to be very square and very in control of his rebounds. Not a lot of pucks are out in front of him that he can’t obtain or retain or smother up so he plays a very calm, cool game and it’s a nice feeling for the bench, it’s a nice feeling for the team to know that you have that solid pillar back there all the time.”

“I couldn’t have done it without the team in front of me,” said Dodds, “They kept the scoring chances to a minimum and it really helps me out when they do that.”

The win extends the Trappers season-long win streak to six games. Including tonight, the three Trapper games this week are against the bottom three in the league. McCarthy knows his team can’t take a night off.

“We’re going at every game with the same as any other, with the intent of winning but we did look at our weekend, how important it is, the next six games over 10 days are important, it’s like a playoff series and winding down into the end of the year, it sort of grooms us a little bit for that kind of mentality or that kind of style of hockey,” he said.

“You might almost even think that, Terry and I talked after the first, (he said) ‘You think they’re trying to save themselves because they’re gonna play 180 minutes this weekend?’ and I said I don’t know, I don’t think they’re that smart to save themselves. I think they just got to get themselves going and get knocked around a little bit and get their heads in the game. It certainly seemed to take that little bit to get our momentum and the flow going but this is just a start, we expect to go out and play well every game and we don’t think any less of ourselves and our confidence within ourselves, we didn’t panic tonight, it allows us to have the outcomes like we did the third period.”

There was no scoring in the first two periods but Dodds had faith in his team.

“Tommy came in the room (in the second intermission), he got us going,” he said, “We knew what we had to do and everyone seemed focused and ready to go out and do it so I knew we’d pull ahead and after we got that first one, the flood gates were open.”

Carter was moved onto the wing by McCarthy for this one, but it wasn’t till a move back to defense that he shot a bouncing puck from just inside the blue line by Bobcat goaltender Cory Simic at 6:55 for the eventual winning goal.

“Danny always has had the option of playing forward or defense,” said McCarthy, “He grew up as a forward, he’s played defense as well. He came to us as a defense man. We always knew he had the offense side of him. We’re going with five defense men, we’re trying to keep four lines, trying to generate a little more steam up front because we have had some slow starts and I was trying to get our feet going and the bodies deep and making some big hits and well, that’s a great option to have him play offense or defense so by the third period, with about 12 minutes left, we had the availability to move him back to the blue line, which alleviates a little bit of the ice time that was given to the four or five others that were playing in the first 45 minutes.”

It didn’t end there as at 9:44, the Trappers established the zone and in the slot, a turn around shot by Langford found the back of the net and it was 2-0.

Orser put a hard point shot upstairs at 18:45, a power play goal to round out the scoring.

The Trappers travel to Iroquois Falls on Saturday night to take on the Abitibi Eskimos and wrap up the weekend Sunday afternoon as they host the Blind River Beavers. Game time is set for 2:00 p.m. at Memorial Gardens.

Game Notes
-The attendance was 459.
-The Trappers led in shots 41-37.
-The Trappers remain two points back of the Soo, as they beat the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners 2-1 in overtime to keep pace a top the standings. The Trappers still have three games in hand.

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Mark Pare

About the Author: Mark Pare

Originally from Timmins, ON, Mark is a longtime journalist and broadcaster, who has worked in several Ontario markets.
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