The North Bay Skyhawks celebrate after the final buzzer. Photo by Chris Dawson. 154 minutes and one second. That’s how long it has been since North Bay Skyhawks goaltender Ian Wilson last allowed a goal in the playoffs.
The North Bay Skyhawks celebrate after the final buzzer. Photo by Chris Dawson.
154 minutes and one second. That’s how long it has been since North Bay Skyhawks goaltender Ian Wilson last allowed a goal in the playoffs.
Wilson’s shot stopping streak stretches back to game four when Wilson surrendered his third and final goal of the game at 5:59 of the second period. Since that goal the goalie has been unbeatable, posting consecutive shutouts and virtually leading his team to a 4-2 series win with a 7-0 Skyhawk spanking of the Eskimos Wednesday night, in front of 1603 fans at Memorial Gardens.
“Playoff hockey is playing solid defensively and getting timely goaltending, and I think the last two games ‘Wils’ played extremely well. Like anything else it’s a confidence thing and right now he’s playing confident hockey,” Skyhawks head coach Darren Turcotte said after the game. “Right now he’s seeing the puck really well and hopefully the puck keeps getting bigger,” added Turcotte with a smile.
The Skyhawks got to the Eskimos early, with Justin Roy finding the back of the net just 1:24 into the game to send the already riled up crowd into an even bigger frenzy. Joe Trotter would score the first of his two goals on the night on the power play almost 8 minutes later, when Brad Hummel won a battle in the corner and fed the open Trotter, who was parked at the side of the net waiting for the pass. Trotter would fire the rubber into the open net as Abitibi’s goaltender Miles Williams didn’t have much of a chance.
Undoubtedly the turning point of the game came when Matt Williams would score a fluke goal in the second period on a shorthanded effort, when he carried the puck into the Eskimos zone only to be taken off it by an Abitibi defender. The puck continued to slide toward the Eskimos goal with another defender fanning on the clearing attempt, which surprised Abitibi’s goaltender who also fanned on the puck to allow the goal and a 3-0 Skyhawk lead.
“I couldn’t really tell…must’ve been a miscommunication between them. I think that was really big for us because they’d really put the pressure on us pretty hard, and at that point a 2-0 game if they get a goal there it’s a whole different ballgame,” Skyhawks goalie Ian Wilson said of the lucky goal.
Perhaps the highlight of the night finesse wise came on the next goal with 4:30 left in the second frame when A.J Shiverdecker would find himself one on one against the Abitibi goalie. Shiverdecker didn’t disappoint, faking to the left, then waiting for Miles Williams momentum to carry over which would leave an open right side of the goal, with Shiverdecker making no mistake of putting the puck in the open net.
The Skyhawks carried a 4-0 lead heading into the third, but they never led up, with Trotter adding his second goal of the contest and Faulkner pitching in with two himself as North Bay would go on to crush Abitibi 7-0. Brad Hummel and Brad Norkum contributed two assists each, followed by Nick Kulas, A.J Shiverdecker and Bryan Albert pitching in with single helpers. Justin Roy left the game in the second period and did not return, but Turcotte expects he will be ready for their next game. Nathan Hewitt sat out his third straight game with an upper body injury, with no word on his return.
After the Eskimos were out shot 9-5 in the first frame, they sent a lot more rubber Wilson’s way in periods two and three, winding up with a 31-26 advantage in shots overall.
The games three stars went to Wilson, who collected his second straight first star honor, Joe trotter received second and Scott Faulkner picked up the third star.
While Wilson played spectacular in the Skyhawks goal, from covering up rebounds to directing shots away from the net, the series win was a team effort according to Turcotte.
“Obviously ‘Wils’ played well in nets, but our defensemen played well and our forwards did the job defensively as well,” Turcotte said.
North Bay had to play good defensively in this series because they were matched up against an Abitibi team that boasted two of the top four point producers in the league during the regular season in Dan Dube and Matt Brunet, who sat 3rd and 4th respectively in the scoring race.
“We really keyed on those guys before the series, saying we know these guys are going to be good, obviously with Dube being the big MVP, so we tried to match up lines with them and the guys that were out there against them played really well, the defense was solid and we shut them down pretty well,” Wilson explained.
With Wilson earning well deserved consecutive shutouts in games five and six, while also leading all goaltenders in the playoffs in goals against average (1.46), save percentage (0.951), he was quick to point the credit toward his teammates and admitted that he didn’t expect the back-to-back shutouts.
“I didn’t really expect it to happen, especially come playoff time with a good team like Abitibi with scorers like Brunet and Dube, you’d expect them to probably get one or two, but the team stepped up and overall I think it’s two team shutouts in a row instead of just me personally getting them,” Wilson explained.
Eskimos head coach Paul Gagne was obviously disappointed in his team’s effort, but was a good sport as he came off the bus to share his thoughts of the game.
“We had some passengers and it just killed the morale. All season long we had a team that played as a team…we were never that good but we always played well as a team and the last couple nights a couple passengers hurt us and they stuck out like a sore thumb. They kept coming at us and we kept making the same mistakes, it was the same individuals and it cost us the game, the series and the embarrassment,” a visibly disturbed Gagne said.
Gagne also said his team needs to be stronger mentally.
“Psychologically we were defeated, you could see the body language even after the first goal, here we go again and defeat was started right there,” he explained.
The Skyhawks get two days rest before starting round two, when they cross the border to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan to face off against the well rested, regular season’s first place Soo Indians Saturday night at the Big Bear Arena.
