Trappers hit a snag against Sabrecats

The North Bay Trappers buzz around the Sabrecats net in the second period. Photo by Chris Dawson.

The North Bay Trappers started quickly but that was about it on Saturday night at West Ferris arena. Marc Senecal scored two early first period goals to give the Trappers a 2-0 lead over the visiting Rayside-Balfour Sabrecats but the visitors scored four unanswered goals en route to a 4-2 victory over the Trappers.

“Maybe when we came out and scored two quick goals we thought it was a shoe-in,” Trappers head coach Larry Keenan said after the game.

It was a disappointing loss after a solid 6-2 victory the night before in New Likeard. From the veteran bench bosses perspective this was a game he’d like to forget.

“Our better players weren’t our better players today. We made mistake after mistake after mistake in our end, in their end everywhere, we gave the puck away, we got caught, we had guys that weren’t putting out. Our foot soldiers were our better players.”

The Cats fought back later in the first to even the score at 2-2. It stayed that way until late in the third period when Matt Pelland fired home a rebound after a nice save by Trappers goalie Marc Veilleux on a partial breakaway. Tommy Moore added an insurance marker a couple minutes later to seal the Sabrecats victory.

Still deadlocked at 2-2, the Trappers had a tremendous chance to grab the lead in the third with a two man advantage. Marc Senecal and Joel Senecal both were turned away by Al Valiquette.

Keenan believes that was a critical point in the game but he’ wasn’t surprised his team didn’t capitalize on the opportunity.

“We deserved to lose tonight and you usually get what you earned and we earned the loss.”

It was only minutes after that penalty kill that the Sabrecats scored the game winning goal and their insurance marker.

To inject some life into the Trappers in the dying minutes of the game, Keenan sent out five forwards on the ice to try and even the score. He said the forward pairing of Carnevale and Willard was his best defensive pair on the night.

Needless to say the Trappers will need a better performance when they face the defending Great North Midget League Champions the Sault Ste. Marie North Stars next weekend at West Ferris arena. The North Stars have won 9 in a row to start the season.