Skyhawks get blitzed by Raiders

Dudley-Hewitt Cup Championship

Georgetown Raiders 7
North Bay Skyhawks 2
Final

The North Bay Skyhawks kept things close in the first half of their opening game of the Dudley-Hewitt Cup. However the second half of Tuesday's game against the host Georgetown Raiders wasn't close at all.

Led by a pair of Josh Merson goals the Skyhawks were square at 2-2 early in the second but the home town club scored three times in the second and added two more in the third en route to a convincing 7-2 win over the Skyhawks.

The Skyhawks were hoping to take the crowd out of the game early, but an unassisted shorthanded marker by Jay Sprague who's wraparound went through the legs of Abbey and in turn foiled the North Bay squad's game plan. However, Merson, allowed to walk in from the point position and blasted a shot upstairs to put the Skyhawks on the board less than four minutes later.

Frank DeAngelis replied for the Raiders on a two-man advantage as he tallied a power play goal at 15:22, less than three minutes after the Skyhawks tied the game. DeAngelis walked in and went top corner on Abbey. That made the score 2-1 after one period.

The Skyhawks were outshot 15-6 in the first period as Chris Abbey turned aside 13 shots in the first period.

Josh Merson scored his second goal of the game less than two minutes into the second period to even the score at 2-2. He fired wicked screen shot past the Georgetown Raiders netminder who had no chance.

The Raiders replied with two quick goals near the midway point of the second period. Kyle Frieday put the Raiders back ahead at 6:57 and Jay Sprague added his second of the game less than two minutes later to give the Raiders their biggest lead of the night. Mike Gurtler added another insurance marker for the Raiders late in the middle frame to make it 5-2 after two periods of play.

That was the end of the night for rookie Chris Abbey who stopped 26 of 31 shots he faced through two periods of play. He was replaced by call-up Mike Maulucci of the Sault Ste. Marie Thunderbirds. He was brought in as a third goaltender and with Mike Lalande nursing a hip injury, Maulucci was called into duty.

Midway through the final period the Raiders solved Maulucci on goals by John Wheaton and Matt Sweazy making it 7-2.

The Raiders outshot the Skyhawks by a wide margin on this night 48-28.

The Skyhawks don't have much time to dwell on the loss as they are back on the ice Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. as they face the Ontario Provincial Jr. A champs from St. Michael's who lost 6-4 in their opener earlier on Tuesday to the Fort William North Stars.

SCORING SUMMARY
1st Period
Georgetown - Jay Sprague SH (unassisted) 9:17
North Bay - Josh Merson (Yves Bastien, Frank Desbiens) 13:05
Georgetown - Frank DeAngelis PP (Richard Hornseth, John Wheaton) 15:22

2nd Period
North Bay - Josh Merson (David Cappadocia) 1:55
Georgetown - Kyle Frieday (Robert Sgarbossa) 6:57
Georgetown - Jay Sprague (Matt Sitko, Mike Nelson) 8:28
Georgetown - Mike Gurtler (Matt Sitko) 17:01

3rd Period
Georgetown - John Wheaton (Matt Sweazy, Richard Hornseth) 10:29
Georgetown - Matt Sweazy (John Barrow) 12:58

With files from Pointstreak.com