Jr. Trappers 'embarrassed' by Eagles

The North Bay Jr. A Trappers can't solve Eagles goalie Scott Klienhans on this great chance in the third period. Photo by Chris Dawson.

It was a game that Jr. A Trappers head coach Ian Swalucynski would like to soon forget after his team was defeated 8-4 at the hands of the Soo Eagles who were playing their third game in 3 nights.

“All I know is that I’ve been coaching here for 2 ½ years and this is the most embarrassed that I’ve ever been so I’m not too happy,” Swalucynski said bluntly after the game.

“We were awful, undisciplined, people are on their own agendas and what they have to know and I hope they read this people who are on their own agendas, it’s got to stop or they won’t be here anymore we can’t have that.”

The Jr. A Trappers, fresh off a come-from-behind 8-5 win over the Blind River Beavers Saturday night, came out flat and allowed the Eagles to build a 5-1 lead by the middle of the second period.

The game did get interesting early in the third when Mat Pepin and Dan Frawley scored goals in the opening minute of the third period to cut the Eagles lead to 6-4. However, 6 minutes later Brian Depp put the game out of reach with a pair of near identical partial breakaway deke goals 10 seconds apart.

Sacha Guimond and Jesse Cere had the other goals for the Trappers who fall to 9-5 on the season.

Depp led the Eagles with 3 goals and Ryan McAleese had a pair. Kyle Slicker, Aaron Leonard, Kevin Michelcavage had the other goals for the Eagles.

It was a big weekend for the Michigan Soo club which won all three games in a 3 day road swing that brought them a 5-3 win in Temiscaming Friday, a 5-4 shootout win in Iroquois Falls over the Eskimos Saturday night and then the 8-4 win in North Bay to finish off a perfect road trip.

“We came into this weekend and we have a lot of guys this is their first year of junior hockey and we’ve been on a long road swing, we are tired and it was a big challenge for us and now we know where we stand,” said Eagles captain Jake Watchorn after the game as the Eagles improve to 9-2 on the season.

Michael Mitchell took the loss in goal for the Trappers as he made 29 stops including at least 3 breakaway saves and one pad save on a penalty shot in the second period.

No Zawacki

The Jr. Trappers were without forward Dan Zawacki who was suffering from a knee injury according to Swalucynski. No word on the length of time that he will be out but Swalucynski said he will see a doctor early this week.

Meantime, defenceman Matt Weinsene made his home debut. The Calgary defenceman played for Swalucynski at a spring tournament in Vancouver and joined the Jr. Trappers Saturday for their game vs. Blind River.