McCrank leads Skyhawks to win

Hubert Generoux looks for a rebound in front of the Eskimos net in the third period. Photo by Chris Dawson.

Dustin McCrank had three goals to lead the North Bay Skyhawks to a 4-1 victory over the Abitibi Eskimos Friday night at Memorial Gardens.

With the score 3-1 McCrank finished off the hat trick beating Eskimos netminder Cedric Bradette to the puck and fired home his third of the night into an empty net from a next to impossible angle.

“The last one from a bad angle I probably put that in one of five times," McCrank said after the win.

"This is my first hat trick I’d say ever, I’ve never been one to score points or goals and I guess this year I’m having a lot of fun," said McCrank.

The Skyhawks win breaks the clubs four game losing skid. Skyhawks head coach Kevin Kerr was thrilled to see his team pick up its play with only two games left on the regular season schedule.

"I think it’s huge," Kerr said of his club snapping out of the losing streak.

"I think we competed, I think we played with emotion we had some big hits we had our physical guys playing physical," he said.

"From top to bottom as a team I thought we played very solid, it’s just a huge win to get us feeling good about ourselves again."

Turcotte's debut

The win spoils the coaching debut of North Bay's Darren Turcotte back in North Bay. It was the former Centennials first game in his hometown as head coach of the Abitibi Eskimos.

Turcotte joined the team in mid February as an assistant coach but soon after was given the head coaching position of the Iroquois Falls club.