Skyhawks even series(updated)

‘Looks can be deceiving’. That statement could’ve been used if you were to make a prediction after the first ten minutes of game four last night at Memorial Gardens between North Bay and the Soo Indians. Based on the first half of the frame where the Indians out-worked, out-skated and out-shot the Skyhawks 11-3, it looked as though the home team was in for a long night.

Despite the Indians early shot barrage, North Bay’s goalkeeper Ian Wilson weathered the storm, as he so often has in the playoffs, keeping the game scoreless. Wilson had the Indians experiencing the long night, as they had a hard time finding a way to get the puck by the goalie, who single handedly kept North Bay alive in the first and then carried that superb play for the rest of the game, guiding the Skyhawks to a convincing 5-2 victory over the visiting Indians, tying the best of seven series at 2-2.

“He’s been great, but he gets a chance to see everything and that helps. Obviously if he continues to play like that we’ll have to do some things differently,” Indians head coach Kevin Cain said of Wilson after the game in the lobby.

After the disastrous opening to the period, in which the Skyhawks could have easily found themselves down by a couple goals, the Skyhawks were awarded a power play and didn’t disappoint the big crowd of 1749. Defenseman Bryan Albert opened the scoring 24 seconds into the man advantage, with a blistering slap shot from the point, which eluded players in front of net and over Indians goalie, Brennan Poderzay’s blocker shoulder and into the top shelf for the 1-0 Skyhawk lead. That goal at 15:58 of the opening period seemed to ignite a fire in the Skyhawks, as they would trade goals with the Indians in period two, while out-shooting the Soo 15-7. The third period saw three consecutive goals within a seven minute span for North Bay, including an empty netter to put the game out of reach with a 5-1 lead. Perhaps the prettiest of the three goals was when Nick Kulas was sprung in all alone against Poderzay. Kulas made the goalie look foolish as he faked one way then put the puck between the goalies five hole. The Indians would add one more goal to make the score 5-2, but that’s as close as they would get.

After dominating the first half of the opening period, only to be stoned by Ian Wilson, the Soo seemed to let down in all areas, especially in the defensive zone, giving the game to the Skyhawks on a silver platter.

“It’s one of those nights, things didn’t go well early and they folded their tent. Adversity is not something they handled well tonight and it showed,” Cain said. “We came out swinging I thought in the first ten, but when things didn’t work out for us we went into a little bit of a shell and we retreated”.

The usual stingy Indians defense was anything but last night, coughing up the puck and not being able to clear the zone like they usually do with ease.

“We played very differently…. We were awful is basically what it boils down to. I haven’t seen so many shots in the shin pads in a full year as I did in the last two days,” A visibly disturbed Cain said. “When it gets to this point in the year, safe is always your best answer and safe wasn’t the way we played tonight”.

Skyhawks head coach Darren Turcotte suggested that maybe the “jitters” played a factor in North Bay’s early struggles and said that his players seemed more relaxed after they scored the first goal.

“Sometimes its tough when your at home, you want to make the pretty play, but if the plays not there sometimes you just have to get rid of it and wait for another opportunity. We did a much better job of that in the second and third period,” Turcotte said.

The shots on net favored the Indians by a 37-34 difference, with Ian Wilson getting the win stopping 35 of 37 shots.

Other scorers for the Skyhawks saw Justin Roy chip in with two and Brad Hummel with a single tally. Brad Norkum added two assists to go along with his dominating play defensively, while Bryan Albert, Josh Diamond and Kyle Radigan added helpers in the winning cause. The Indians countered with Sam Yearsley and Joe Larson netting goals, while Sean Reid collected their lone assist.

The three stars of the game honors went to Ian Wilson, Justin Roy and Shane Bailey respectively.

Wilson, who has become accustomed to receiving star honors in the playoffs, leads goaltenders in every statistical category in the post season including most wins with six, best goals against average (2.02), save percentage(0.935), most saves(303) and most shut-outs with two.

With the series squared at two, the best of seven game series now becomes the best of three, with the teams traveling back to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan for a game five tilt Sunday at the Big Bear arena, the puck dropping at 6:00p.m. The Skyhawk victory also guarantees them another playoff game at Memorial Gardens, which takes place Tuesday April 3rd, with a scheduled start time of 7:30p.m.