Stone Stonewalls Skyhawks

The North Bay Skyhawks apply some pressure in the first period but they could only solve the Islanders red hot netminder once. Photo by Chris Dawson.

By Jacob Robinson

The Skyhawks ran into a hot goalie Sunday night vs the Manitoulin Islanders leading to a 4-1 defeat. Billy Stone who was between the pipes for the visitors stopped 42 of 43 shots to get the win.

This was North Bays fourth straight loss and with the playoffs right around the corner, falling to a last place club is not going to help matters. Coach Kevin Kerr, although disappointed with the loss, is looking at the bigger picture of the post season.

"Any time you loose no one is happy. They had a couple of odd man rushes that they capitalized on, and we couldn’t on our chances." He went on to say. "We’ll bounce back, I believe in my players and this team. The real season starts in two weeks."

Slow starts hadn’t been a problem for the blue and white in their last several games but less than two minutes into the game Tyler Corston-Moore of the Islanders snuck a shot five hole on Mike Lalande. Former Skyhawk Ken May lit the lamp after finding the puck in a goalmouth scramble to put Manitoulin up 2-0.

The lone goal for the Hawks came late in the first during 4 on 4 hockey. Denis French tallied on a ‘goal scorers goal’ putting a wrist shot from the face off dot top corner on the far side. French’s 14th of the season would prove to be the only puck to elude Stone on the night. The Hawks were buzzing around his net all game, especially in the first where they fired 16 shots, but couldn’t bury one.

"He stood on his head tonight," Kerr said of the Islander backstop.

"We’ve got to crash the net and make sure we get on those rebounds."

Aside from standing on it, Stone was using his head as well, making three saves with his helmet. Mike Moote for the Islanders took a shot in the second that looked as though Lalande was going to grab with the glove. The puck eluded the leather of the Hawks goalie and went into the cage making it 3-1. From there it was Stone who did just that to North Bay. The Hawks fired everything they had at him..

"That’s the way hockey goes," Coach Kerr said."

"We competed hard but we just didn’t get the bounces."

The Hawks went 0 for 6 with the man advantage in the match. They were setting up well Stone but had an answer for every North Bay challenge. The Isles were content to just ice the puck and sit on the lead in the third. With the clock ticking down, it appeared as if Dustin McCrank scored on the power play to put his team within one. However just before the chance, the puck was in the air and hit with a high stick negating goal and any chance of a comeback.

"Our work ethic will the main focus in practice next week." Kerr stated. He also spoke on who will be his leaders for the post season.

"Denis French, Nick Kulas,Dustin McCrank and Matt Collins are going to make a big impact. Also my defensive guys like (Adam) Cook, (Justin) Roy and (Ian) Carlson who are going to do a great job on the penalty kill."

The Hawks will play their final two home games next week versus Abitibi Friday and first place Sudbury Sunday. They are now five points out of second place with three
games to play in the season.