Wolves a win away from NOJHL title

The following story was written by Chris Dawson of BayToday.ca, a sister site of SooToday.com

The Sudbury Jr. Wolves took a 3-2 series lead over the North Bay Skyhawks as the Wolves scored twice on the powerplay and added an empty net goal late in the third period to give the Jr. Wolves a 4-2 win in game five of the best-of-seven NOJHL final which took place Sunday night at the Sudbury arena.

Skyhawks head coach Kevin Kerr felt his team played a solid road game but couldn’t bury their powerplay chances.

Kerr said the turning point might have been a 5 on 3 chance the Skyhawks had in the second period and they couldn’t beat Wolves goalie Paul Pidutti.

“They capitalized on their powerplays and we didn’t,” said Kerr as his team didn’t score once with the man advantage in game five.

Dustin McCrank and Justin Piquette scored for the Skyhawks in the loss.

The Skyhawks outshot the Jr. Wolves 38-18 in the game and Kerr said Pidutti played a key part of the Jr. Wolves victory turning away 36 of the Skyhawks shots.

With the Jr. Wolves taking the 3-2 lead, the Skyhawks realize their backs are now right against the wall. Another loss means the end of the season.

“We’ve got to come back here and win,” said Kerr.

“Everyone can do the math, it’s time to play desperate hockey.”

The two teams are back in North Bay for game six which takes place back in North Bay on Tuesday. Game time is 7 p.m.

*** GAME FOUR:

Ian Carlson has been known more for his defensive role this season with the Skyhawks, but on this night his offence was the key as he scored a goal that might have turned the series around for the North Bay Skyhawks.

With four minutes remaining in regulation and the game tied 1-1, Carlson took a pass from Nick Kulas and fired a low shot past Paul Pidutti for the game winning goal in a 2-1 Skyhawks victory.

“I saw Kulas coming off the wall and he drew three guys to him and he had the puck on his stick and he kind of laid it back to me and I was all alone and I just saw an opening short side and I just had to bury it and I did,” said an elated Carlson who called that the biggest goal he’s ever scored in his hockey career.

The victory puts the Skyhawks right back into the NOJHL final series after losing 5-1 at home and 6-2 in Sudbury to give the Jr. Wolves a 2-1 series lead coming into Friday night’s contest at Memorial Gardens.

The Wolves had dominated those two games and appeared to be heading in the same direction early on as Brian McGarry scored the Wolves only goal 57 seconds into the first period on a powerplay goal giving the Wolves the very early lead.

Jr. Wolves head coach Darryl Moxam believes that goal actually did more harm than good.

“I think we were ready to go tonight and I think that first one kind of brought our guys down and right now in a seven game series you can’t get too up, you can’t get too down and I think it brought us down and I think our guys thought they would maybe walk through the third game in a row and it’s not going to happen I mean North Bay’s not going to roll over,” Moxam said.

The Skyhawks tied the game up in the final minute of the first period as Matt Collins fed a pass through a Wolves defender to Joey Imbeau who slipped one through the legs of Wolves goaltender Paul Pidutti to even the score at 1-1.

The game remained 1-1 heading into the third period which was a period full of opportunities for the Skyhawks. Early in the third period Dustin McCrank was robbed point blank, not once, but twice by Pidutti on two great powerplay chances about 30 seconds apart.

After Carlson’s goal the Jr. Wolves had a great chance to even things up as referee Darren Long sent Skyhawks forward Justin Piquette to the box for high sticking with less than three minutes left in regulation.

Skyhawks goaltender Michael Lalande, who was pulled in the first period of game three, made a tremendous pad save off of Brian McGarry on the late powerplay to salvage the victory.

Skyhawks head coach Kevin Kerr now has to prepare his players for game five which takes place on Sunday in Sudbury.

“I’m going to say it again they’ve got a good hockey team over there and you’ve got to give them respect our guys competed and they wanted to win and I give all the credit our players they come to play they want to win and they want to go to the Dudley Hewitt Cup so hopefully we can continue this but it’s a long ways from over,” said Kerr.

Skyhawk Clips

The Skyhawks outshot the Wolves 33-23 on the night. . . Dustin McCrank got the decision in a bout with Jr. Wolves defenceman Brodie Wilson with two seconds remaining in the third period . . . Nugget Sports Reporter Ken Pagan accurately predicted Ian Carlson as the game winning goal scorer in a press box pool. . . The Skyhawks finished 0/8 on the powerplay while the Wolves were 1/7.