Jr. Trappers silenced by Thunderbirds

SAULT STE. MARIE, ON - The North Bay Jr. A Trappers fell 5-1 to Soo Thunderbirds at the John Rhodes Community Centre Saturday night, but the injuries the Trappers players sustained during that defeat may have been worse than the final result.

Trappers head coach Ian Swalucynski felt it was a close game for the first half but after Dan Zawacki, Adam Marceau, and starting netminder Michael Mitchell went down with injuries, the club seemed a bit rattled.

"We were down to less than 3 lines so guys were battling and they didn’t quit and we had a great week of hard practice and it paid off just have to keep that up," said the Jr. A Trappers coach.

"When our starting goalie goes down kind of deflated the boys," added Swalucynski who noted Mitchell will be getting an MRI on his injured knee back in his hometown of Thunder Bay this week to see the extent of the injury.

Mitchell was replaced by newcomer Markus Leikkari, who made his Trappers debut last weekend against the Temiscaming Royals.

Tyler Evoy finished with a pair, while Bronson Kovacs, Chad Thibodeau, and Dylan Connolly did the rest of the scoring for the defending NOJHL champs.

Eric Pye stopped 33 shots in the T-Birds victory.

Stan Smrke scored the Trappers only goal early in the third period.

The Trappers will continue their Western Conference theme as they host the Blind River Beavers in a rare Wednesday night game at Memorial Gardens. Game time is 7:00 p.m.