Skyhawks at brink of elimination with 5-4 double overtime loss

The North Bay Skyhawks have once again fallen victim to a heartbreaking overtime loss in their semi-final series with the Soo Indians, this time the final score was 5-4 in a double overtime loss Sunday night at Big Bear arena in Sault Ste. Marie Michigan. Despite blowing a 3-1 lead with under half the game left to play, Skyhawks head coach Darren Turcotte feels not many changes need to be made for game six.

“We’re not changing much,” Turcotte said after the game by cell phone. “We just need to play a 60 minute game… We’ve proved that we can play with these guys and now we’ll just have to head home and get ready for game six.”

The Soo got on the scoreboard early with Nick Zilka finding the back of the net just 1:43 into the game. Nick Kulas, who had three points on the night for the Skyhawks tied the game a little over 10 minutes later to knot the stanza up at 1-1 after 20 minutes.

North Bay would jump out to a 3-1 lead on goals from Joe Trotter and Kulas within three minutes of each other before the half way mark in the second frame. The lead wouldn’t last 10 minutes as Sean Farley pulled the Indians within a goal on the power play almost six minutes later. Scott Pulak would round out the scoring in the second for the Soo, scoring two minutes after Farley’s extra man tally to tie things up at 3-3heading into the third frame.

The final 20 minutes saw each team get on the board one more time with Shane Bailey scoring for the Indians and Matt Williams adding the Skyhawks goal to send the game to overtime locked at 4-4.

The first overtime period didn’t solve anything, forcing the teams to play a second overtime frame to get things decided. The second overtime was what was needed as the Indians Nick Novak netted the huge game winner for the Soo, giving them the win and the 3-2 series lead.

Wilson looked rather ordinary on the night allowing five goals, but Turcotte isn’t pointing fingers his way.

“He played pretty well… we can’t blame him,” Turcotte said of his goalies performance.

Other Skyhawks collecting points on the night were Mike Lawler, who returned from a two game suspension paying immediate dividends with two assists, while A.J Shiverdecker, Josh Diamond, Louis D Avino, Kody Carnevale and Scott Faulkner ezch contributed single helpers.

Final shots on goal saw the Indians with the advantage as they edged North Bay 34-28.

The three stars of the game went to Nick Novak, Isaac Viau and Nick Kulas respectively.

The Skyhawks hope to stay treading water and keep their season alive, by forcing a deciding game seven with a win Tuesday when they play host to the Indians at Memorial Gardens. Game time is 7:30p.m.