The following story was prepared by Chris Dawson of BayToday.ca, a sister site of SooToday.com
The North Bay Skyhawks scored three times in the third period to break open a 2-1 game as the Hawks went on to win game one of the NOJHL finals 5-1 over the Sudbury Jr. Wolves Thursday night at the Sudbury arena.
The Skyhawks were led offensively by Ian Carlson who netted a pair, while Dustin McCrank, Nick Kulas and Frank Desbeins scored the others as the Skyhawks take a 1-0 series lead in the best-of-seven NOJHL final with the winner heading on to the Dudley Hewitt Cup.
The win gives North Bay home ice advantage as the locals look for their fourth straight NOJHL title.
“Obviously getting the first win in their building is huge,” Kevin Kerr said about his club’s fifth consecutive playoff win.
“You’ve got to win on road in playoffs and I think our guys felt good and they got a lot of confidence after winning in their building.”
Kerr was hoping playing on the larger ice surface at Sudbury arena would work to their advantage and he believes it worked as they were able to wear the Jr. Wolves down and keep their high powered offence at bay.
"We just battled hard, we played a good two way game and we played well defensively," said Kerr about what appears to be the formula for victory.
The North Bay Skyhawks return home for game two Sunday night at Memorial Gardens.
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