Trappers overwhelm 87's (updated)

Story by Lucas Punkari

North Bay Trappers forward Mitchell Davis had a hat trick and added two assists, leading the Trappers to a 9-3 victory over the Kirkland Lake Legion 87's in Great North Midget League action at the West Ferris Arena on Saturday night.

“Everybody was working hard out there and things just clicked tonight for me,” Davis said following his five point evening.

“It was great to get out to that quick lead and thing just got better from there.”

The Trappers opened the scoring with three goals in a five minute span during the first period, and were able to keep that momentum up throughout the contest.

“It was huge,” Trappers head coach Robin Boucher said following the game about the quick three goal lead.

“The first couple of shifts the guys seemed to pumped right up and it set the tempo of the rest of the game for sure. It’s very nice to get an early lead and the guys just kept working at it.”

Davis scored his first of the night at the five minute mark of the first following a scramble in front of the net, with Liam Berti and Anthony Trozzo also scoring within a minute of each other to make it 3-0 after twenty.

The second period saw more of the same from North Bay as Davis, Trozzo and Berti each scored for the second time in the game. Roch Pellerin also scored off of a rebound, making the score 7-0 with four minutes left in the period.

However, Kirkland Lake started to make some noise late in the period as Mike Souriol and Frankie Hart each scored within twenty seconds of one another, putting the score at 7-2.

“The guys knew that they had to get back to work,” Boucher said regarding the mood in the dressing room after giving up the two late goals in the second.

“They played a pretty good 35 to 38 minutes out there and they knew that they got lazy on a couple of goals. Actually a couple of the leaders stepped up and let the younger guys know what they had to do out there, which was nice to see.”

Kirkland Lake would cut the gap down to four goals following a Matt Cormier goal on a 5-on-3 powerplay with five minutes left in the third, however by that point it was too late for the 87's.

Nick Huard and Davis, potting his third of the night, would round out the scoring for the Trappers soon after to seal the victory.

Despite the victory, both Boucher and Davis agreed that they’ll need a strong effort on Sunday afternoon when they go on the road and face the league leading Sudbury Nickel Capital Wolves, who are currently 22-0 to start the season.

“Obviously we’ll have to have a good start against Sudbury,” Boucher acknowledged.

“We know they’re a very strong team, we have to limit their chances and I think that the guys have to prepare the same way they did tonight.”

“We just got to have the same start but a better finish,” Davis added.

“Sudbury’s obviously a stronger team and we got to pick our game in order to play with them. But I think we can do that.”