Trappers undisciplined in win over Flyers

If the North Bay Trappers (4-3) expect to compete with the elite teams in the GNML, such as the Sudbury Nickel Capitol Wolves (8-0) and Sault Ste. Marie North Stars (7-1), they had better learn how to play disciplined hockey and stay out of the sin bin. Saturday night’s game, at the West Ferris Community Center against the winless Kapuskasing Flyers (0-9) proved the Trappers still need lots of work in that department.

After building a commanding 5-1 lead going into the third period, the win looked to be in the bag for the Trappers. The Flyers had other plans, coming out for the final 20 minutes ‘with a never give up’ attitude, taking the play to the home team. Being outplayed by a team without a win this year didn’t sit too well for the red and white, taking three undisciplined roughing after the whistle penalties within a four minute span in the third, allowing the Flyers to build momentum. The Flyers made things interesting for the estimated 120 people attending the game, as they rallied to score three goals in the third to pull within two points of the Trappers. North Bay’s Mitchell Davis ended any hope of a Flyer comeback when he made good on a break-away, faking out Flyers goalie Ryan Beaudoin and beating him along the ice using a nifty deke with just five minutes remaining in the game to ice the Trappers 7-4 victory.

Although the Trappers snuck away with the win, you could bet the final outcome would have been different if North Bay was playing some of the better teams in the league.

“We took a lot of penalties…the penalties we took were pretty selfish, because we weren’t working hard and got out of position, so we had to haul guys down and hook and do whatever we had to do,” a visibly frustrated Trapper Head Coach, Robin Boucher explained after the game. “We’re very lucky to get that win,” he added.

Boucher says his team needs to have better work ethic in upcoming games and believes his players should come out to play every game no matter what their opponent’s record reads.

“We have to work hard every game because in this league we can’t take a night off,” Boucher said. “Coming into the game, they knew Kapuskasing hadn’t won yet and didn’t have too many tight games….I think they (Trappers) just weren’t ready to play, maybe a bit of overconfidence.”

Despite The Flyers meager 0-9 record, Head Coach Marc Laplante was pleased with his squad’s effort throughout the game and feels it was a good building block going into Sunday’s rematch with North Bay.

“We’re (0-9), but I think today we played a really good game…the kids showed a lot of heart in the third…we almost had it, there were some missed calls, so we’re just going to keep on playing the way we are,” Laplante explained.

Mitchell Davis led the attack for the Trappers with four points on the night, while the team’s leading scorer, Nick Huard added a goal and two assists. Other players making the score sheet for North Bay were Anthony Trozzo, Ryan Leckie and Cory Leboeuf, each contributing two points, while Darnell Koosees, Dakota Barnhardt, Pascal Seguin and Roch Pellerin pitched in with a single point. Scoring for the Flyers were Steve Jean, with a hat-trick in the third period, Damien John-George collected four assists, Mark Fraser added two points and Jonathan Degagne rounded out their scoring with a helper. Tanner Davis was solid in net for the home team earning the win, while Ryan Beaudoin took the loss between the pipes for the Flyers.

The Trappers hope to improve to (5-3) with a better effort at home in Sunday’s rematch against the Flyers, with the puck dropping at 1:20p.m.