Laporte gets shootout winner over Royals

Jr. Trappers goalie Michael Mitchell makes a great stop on the Royals Andre Leclair in the 2nd period. Photo by Tim Turner.

TEMISCAMING, QC. - Nick and Will Laporte are both well known for stirring up the boo's at the Centre in Temiscaming whenever they step on the ice. Most of the time its for thunderous hits, a subtle cheap shot or maybe even a fight.

But on this night defenceman Nick Laporte used his finesse to draw the ire of the Temiscaming fans as he scored the shootout winner in a 2-1 win over the Royals Friday night in the season opener for both teams.

Jr. Trappers Head coach Ian Swalucynski admitted he had the lanky defenceman slotted as his 4th shooter.

"Last year he would have been number 10 on the depth chart but he's got good hands, he messes around with the puck before practice and he's pretty good on the shootout so I told him I knew he was going to score because I had confidence in him."

The shootout went to extra shooters after both teams scored once - Jonathon Aubertin for the Jr. Trappers and Andre Leclair for the Royals - on the first 3 tries.

"I knew it was a turning point in the game and if I was to bear down and score I figured that was it because our goalie was playing well all game and he had the five hole open and I just beared down and shot five hole," said Laporte after the game.

Michael Mitchell got the win in goal for the Jr. Trappers as he made a handful of key saves including a spectacular breakaway stop on Andre Leclair in the second period and a game saver in the final minute of the game on Royals Robin Mendelsohn. He made 32 stops for his first win in a Jr. Trappers jersey, which was actually a defunct Skyhawks jersey which was worn for the road game Friday.

Newcomer Michel Gamache who came over in the Joel Senecal trade, scored the lone goal for the Jr. Trappers just at the end of a Royals power play close to 6 minutes into the third period.

Royals forward Cedric Boutin gave the Royals the lead late in the first period after he fired home a rebound off an Andre Leclair shot.

Royals head coach Steve McCharles remembers a similar fate his club met last season in the firt game at the Centre, where the Skyhawks slipped out of town with a 3-2 shootout win in September of 2008.

"I don't think it was a bad game but I think there is still a lot of room for improvement," said Royals head coach Steve McCharles.

"We have a lot of young guys here that need experience. I think defensively we gave North Bay chances that we really didn't need to give up and offensively we need guys focussing more when they have the opportunity to score to bear down and do that."

Despite allowing 2 goals on 4 shootout shots, Royals goalie Jim Murray was solid all night long stopping 41 shots to force the game to overtime.

Both clubs will play their next contest against the Soo Thunderbirds. The Royals take on the Soo Saturday night with game time being 7:30 p.m. Meantime, the Jr. Trappers will display their new jerseys for the first time on Sunday as they host the Soo Thunderbirds. Game time is 7:00 p.m.