Skyhawks 1 win away from NOJHL final

Skyhawks forward Alex Valenti waits for a pass during a 3rd period power play. Photo by Chris Dawson.

For forty minutes it looked like it was going to be another tight battle in the series between the North Bay Skyhawks and the Abitibi Eskimos. However, the Skyhawks scored 3 goals in the final frame of game 5 to win 6-1 and take a 3-2 series lead in the best of seven semi-final series.

After a thrilling come from behind, double overtime victory in game 4 in Iroquois Falls, the Skyhawks were able to carry their momentum into Sunday night’s game at Memorial Gardens. They played solid defense and were patient in breaking down the trap game of the Eskimos.

“Everyone bought in the last two games,” said North Bay coach Ian Swalucynski of his team’s turn around in the series. “We lost two games when we got away from what we talked about,” added the bench boss.

The “grinder” players played a large roll in the victory for the ‘Hawks as heavy hitting defenseman Nick Laporte had a goal and three assists in gaining the games first star. The normally defensive minded Tyler Hummel had two goals in his best performance of the playoffs thus far.

Hummel scored the opening goal of the game on a nice feed from Joel Senecal from behind the net.

“They played such a passive game; they just trapped so it’s really important to get the first goal,” said Hummel after the contest.

Michael Robert scored an un-assisted goal to tie the game at one midway through the first. Laporte put North Bay back up with the eventual game winner on a blast from the point that popped the water bottle off the top of the net.

The only offence in the second period came off the stick of Dustin Fummerton for his 8th of the playoffs. The speedy forward had his shot on the power play blocked; but it took a friendly bounce back to him and he made no mistake on the second attempt, burying the puck behind a helpless Francis Albert.

Carrying a 3-1 lead into the third the Skyhawks continued to control the play as the normally defensive minded Eskimos were forced to open up their game a little.

Abitibi head coach Paul Gagne said that his team was still feeling the effects of the heartbreaker less than 24 hours prior.

“It was sort of flat lined in the dressing room; psychologically it was hard on us last night to get that loss, especially when you have a lot of momentum,” said Gagne.

Hummel scored his second of the game midway through the third period tipping home a point shot from Laporte. Fummerton scored his 9th goal a few minutes later to really put the game out of reach at 5-1.

Late in the game with the Skyhawks shorthanded another “grinder”, Scott Britton, made a great hustle play, tracking down the Eskimos defenseman behind the net and tucking one in behind Albert.

Swalucynski was pleased with the way his role players stepped up in the pivotal game 5.

“They’re a bunch of guys that will roll in the mud before they play instead of put on make-up and that’s what I wanted when I made this team,” said the coach.

After the game, Laporte spoke of the sense of reprieve the team has after being so close to going down 2 games in the series.

“We were on the ropes, especially if we would have lost the game last night; it’s definitely a big relief,” said the 6’4” defenseman.

Jeff Micheal had a strong performance in net for the Skyhawks stopping 23 of 24 shots including a beautiful glove hand save on Marc-Alain Begin from in close. Albert was peppered with 39 shots from the home side taking the loss.

Hummel was the games second star while Fummerton was named third star. Additional assists came from Trent Lizee, who had two and Marcel Konopelky, Alex Valenti and Justin Villeneuve with one a piece.

Game 6 goes Tuesday night in Iroquois Falls at 7:30pm; game 7, if necessary, will be played Wednesday night at Memorial Gardens. Game time for that is scheduled for 7:30 as well.

The Soo Thunderbirds await the winner of this series as they swept aside the Blind River Beavers in the Western Division Final.