The North Bay & District Midget AAA Trappers took two of three on a busy northern road trip this weekend.
The Trappers opened with an 8-3 win over the Timmins Majors on Friday, then edged Kapuskasing 3-2 in overtime on Saturday night in Hearst. Then on Sunday afternoon the Trappers lost a tight 4-3 contest to the Kapuskasing Flyers.
Head Coach Guy Blanchard would have preferred the weekend sweep but he says the road trip gave the team a little taste of what to expect come playoff time.
“It is good for us to play these games but we need to get better in certain areas, too many unnecessary turnovers,” said Blanchard.
“We had to overcome and fight through some adversity of playing in Kapuskasing but we killed a lot of penalties which took away a lot of momentum. We need to practice harder and get ready for this tournament in Peterborough.”
In Friday’s win Ryan Mills and Cole Craft had two goals each for the Trappers. Single tallies went to Mason McMahon, Nick Davis, Jake Gravelle and Joe Whittet. Drew Joyal got the win in goal.
On Saturday, Matt Hardwick scored his second goal of the game in OT to lead the Trappers to the 3-2 road victory in front of 600 fans in Hearst. Joel Rainville made 29 saves in the win.
In their third contest Samuel Bourdages scored a pair of late goals for the Flyers in the 4-3 Trappers setback on Sunday.
Matt Hardwick, Brett Shawana, and Mason McMahon scored for the Trappers in the Sunday setback. Drew Joyal made 26 saves in the rare Trappers loss.
Despite the loss, the Trappers (26-4-0-0-1) still hold a two-point lead on the second place Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, while holding two games in hand in the Great North Midget League Standings.
