Skyhawks take on Thunderbirds (game recap)

It was a disappointing night for the North Bay Skyhawks and the over 1300 fans who took in their home opener. In a game that was filled with penalties, the Skyhawks were unable to muster any offence until it was too late in what turned out to be a 2-1 loss to the Soo Thunderbirds. The Thunderbirds, who were completing their three games in three night’s road trip, outplayed the Skyhawks who looked to be on their heels from the moment the game started.

The game started off with quite a bit of controversy as it looked as though the Skyhawks got on the board first. Jason Pacheco let go of a shot from the top of the face off circle and it squeaked through Thunderbirds goaltender Ryan Dube. As the puck was crossing the goal line the official blew the play dead as it seemed as though he felt Dube had the puck in his equipment. After the game Pacheco felt that the call did have an effect on the team.

“It was deflating to have that called back. We really didn’t get any of the calls tonight,” said Pacheco.

At the 15:12 mark of the first period the Thunderbirds would open the scoring. The games first star Jake Reid would net his second of the season as he beat Skyhawks goaltender Ian Wilson. Following the game Reid admitted that the disallowed goal swung the momentum in the game.

“We took that as a wake up call. We were a bit sluggish to start but when that got called back we realized we would have to wake up and start playing harder,” said Reid.

Tyler Gendron and Matt Amadio would pick up assists on the Reid goal. Amadio also added an assist on the Thunderbirds second goal giving him four points in the teams’ first three games.

The Thunderbirds would carry their one goal lead into the second period.

North Bay did come out buzzing in the opening minutes of the second having a few good scoring chances but they just could not put the puck in the net. At the eight minute mark the Skyhawks would get a 5 on 3 power play opportunity but they still could not muster any offence, and at this point were 0 for 7 on the man advantage. Brad DiCandia would then extend the lead for the Thunderbirds with just over a minute remaining in the second period, giving the Soo a 2-0 lead going into the third.

For the majority of the third period the Skyhawks did not play like a team needing two goals as they still were unable to generate scoring opportunities. Finally with around six minutes remaining they would start taking the game to the Thunderbirds but Dube came up with a couple of big saves. The Skyhawks finally found the back of the net with 26 seconds remaining as newcomer Garret Trainor would score on the power play and with the Skyhawks net empty to cut the lead in half. It would prove to be too little too late for the Skyhawks as the final buzzer would sound and the final was 2-1 in favour of the Thunderbirds. Following the game Skyhawks Head Coach Darren Turcotte did not hide his frustrations.

“First off, are D was terrible,” said Turcotte in regards to the mistakes made by the Skyhawks defenseman.

“We get a new kid (Trainor) in today and he plays the best out of all our defenseman. We got guys that are 6’1” and 189 pounds and they need to start playing like that. Guys that are supposed to score need to start scoring. We got guys who were crashing and banging in camp and we may need to remind them what got them on the team.”

The Skyhawks will have an opportunity to redeem themselves next Sunday when they host Blind River. Face off is once again scheduled for 7 pm @ the Memorial Gardens.

Power outage

One of the main stories of the game was the fact that neither team was able to generate any production on the power play. The Skyhawks would finish the game 1 for 9 with the man advantage; however Turcotte was not too concerned with that stat after the game.

“It’s September 9th and it’s the first game of the year. We did not really worry about the power play in training camp. It is something that we will work on and it will get better in the future.”

Skyhawks injuries

Following their final exhibition game against the Aurora Tigers, Turcotte had expected his injured players ready for the teams regular season opener. However both Cory Park and David Ciminelli were still out of the lineup Sunday evening. Turcotte had the following to say about the injuries.

“They just weren’t ready to come back yet. Park practiced all week and then I got a call this morning saying he wasn’t ready to play today. So there was definitely some miscommunication there. As for Ciminelli, he has a broken finger and it has only been 10 days since it happened, so he just needs some more time,” said Turcotte.