Jr. Wolves capture NOJHL title on North Bay ice

On the wrong end of a handshake. The North Bay Skyhawks shake hands after the Jr. Wolves handed them a 7-5 beating on home ice to capture their first NOJHL crown. Photo by Chris Dawson.


The North Bay Skyhawks never quit. After falling behind 6-2 the Skyhawks battled back to get within one goal but it wasn’t enough as the Sudbury Jr. Wolves edged the North Bay Skyhawks 7-5 to win the NOJHL final four games to two.

“This is unbelievable for our guys,” said Jr. Wolves rookie head coach Darryl Moxam about his team that went from worst to first in ’05-’06.

“There hasn’t been a lot of winning going on so for this group of guys but for these guys to step up and play the way they did it’s all about the guys right now. Bottom line is we matched their intensity and they are a tough team to beat.”

For Jr. Wolves captain it was special winning the title in his father’s hometown.

“We are just having a great time it feels better to win it on North Bay ice than our ice almost so many good rivalries and we’re just going to enjoy it and have a couple pops tonight,” said McGarry who for the second time in the series opened the scoring on North Bay ice with a first period powerplay goal.

For the Skyhawks it was a night where goaltending faltered and a comeback from four goals down was just not meant to be.

“We didn’t give up that’s for sure they are a great team and as soon as they came out there and got a few goals they cut the intensity up and they just kept pressing and kind of held us in our own zone for a bit and we just ran out of time,” said disappointed Skyhawks captain Quinn Waller.

The Sudbury Jr. Wolves got out to a very quick start with two powerplay goals in the first period.

Brian McGarry scored the first goal with the extra man as he blasted a one timer past Michael Lalande to give the Wolves the lead at 8:08 of the opening period.

Brenden Biedermann scored the other with the extra attacker as he re-directed a point shot that slid past Lalande making it 2-0 at 15:28 of the first

Joey Imbeau nearly put the hawks on the board in the final minute as he made a nice spin move in the slot but Pidutti made a tremendous pad save to keep the Skyhawks off the scoresheet.

The Jr. Wolves increased their lead early in the second period as defenceman Scott Lavigne stole the puck and went all alone on Lalande, was stopped on a nice deke but Jamie Dallaire banged home the rebound to make it 3-0 only 37 seconds into the period.

Skyhawks appear to rebound soon after as Anthony Sarno’s innocent point shot went off Pidutti’s blocker and off his shoulder and into the net to give the Skyhawks some life making it 3-1 at 2:03 of the second period.

The Jr. Wolves rebound though as Rob Bonhomme scored on a weak shot that beat Lalande to make it 4-1 and end the night for the big Skyhawks goalie after allowing four goals on only 20 shots.

Dominic Leveille didn’t fair much better as Nick Heins scored on the Jr. Wolves first shot on the new Skyhawks goalie to make it 5-1 at 2:59.

But the Skyhawks don’t quit after that. Austin Rugal scored on the powerplay on a rebound off a Joey Imbeau shot to make it 5-2, but the Wolves score their second goal in three shots against Leveille as former Skyhawk Jesse Graham pulls the trigger for a 6-2 lead still only 6:40 into the second period scoring parade.

After the ice dust had settled both teams combined scored 5 goals on 9 shots in the first half of the second period alone.

The Skyhawks cut into the lead again, this time on the powerplay on a nice tic-tac-toe passing play Nathan Hewitt, down low to Nick Kulas and a then a quick cross crease pass fired home by Joey Imbeau to made it 6-3 at 9:39 of the middle frame.

With 2:54 left in the second the Skyhawks scored their fourth second period goal as Tavis Holden banged home a rebound past Paul Pidduti making it 6-4 and that was it for Pidutti who was yanked as well after allowing 4 goals on only 18 shots. Darren Rowlandson came in relief during the very goalie unfriendly period in hopes of putting an end to the Skyhawks comeback.

However, the Skyhawks got even closer on a point shot by Brett Venasse which beat Rowlandson after Dustin McCrank was cross checked from behind along the boards and was lying on the ice. That made the score 6-5 only 2:03 into the third period.

The Jr. Wolves got one back on a bad angle goal by Jamie Dallaire for his second of the game and a huge insurance marker at 9:40 and that was all the Jr. Wolves needed as the Skyhawks couldn’t solve Rowlandson again as the North Bay Junior “A” team has its string of three straight league championships broken by the Sudbury Jr. team.

Despite the loss the Skyhawks head coach Kevin Kerr was holding a brave face.

“Anytime your playing against a team like that and your down by two with less than 10 minutes left it makes it tough but our guys they never quit once and I’m so proud of my guys and it’s been a very memorable year for me and hats off to them for making it a year that I’ll never forget,” reflected Kerr.

After the game Kerr would not say whether or not this was his last game behind the Skyhawks bench. He did admit it's been tough this season living in his hometown while his family was still living in Michigan. Kerr says he'll discuss it with Skyhawks G.M. Guy Blanchard.