But only 10 have been named as finalists for the RBC Canadian Junior Hockey League Player of the Year award.

One of those happens to be North Bay Jr. Trappers forward Tait Seguin.

The youngest of the 10 nominees, Seguin burst onto the junior hockey scene in 2012-13, leading all NOJHL rookies in goals, assists and points and finishing fifth in scoring on a very strong North Bay team with 41 points in 46 games.

His performance earned him a spot on the NOJHL First All-Star Team, and he was the runner-up for the league’s rookie of the year award.

Off the ice, Seguin has proved to be a role model for his teammates, despite not turning 18 until March 21st.

All season, he was consistently one of the first Trappers on the ice and one of the last off of it, and has never hesitated to get involved in community activities.

Seguin was honoured as the NOJHL Scholastic Player of the Year after graduating high school a year early and finishing all of his courses with at least a 90% mark.

He hopes to use his hockey abilities to gain a college scholarship, and has his sights set on a strong engineering program.

“It’s a great honour for sure to say the least,” admitted the humble North Bay area product.

“I had a great year, I worked hard every day and I think it paid off. I’d like to thank the Trappers and especially coach Tom McCarthy for the amazing opportunity they provided me this past season. It was really exciting to see my name on that list.”

The finalists were selected by their respective CJHL leagues, with the winner announced during the 2013 RBC Cup in Summerside, P.E.I., and presented with his award at the tournament awards banquet on May 17.

They include Minnesota Wilderness forward and Dudley-Hewitt Cup champion Mike Dietrich, Kingston Voyageurs goaltender Charlie Finn, Chilliwack Chiefs goaltender Mitch Gillam, Pantheres De Saint-Jerome’s Benjamin Laliberte, Brooks Bandits forward Cam Maclise, Summerside Capitals forward Mitchell Maynard, Dauphin Kings forward Guillaume Naud, Cornwall Colts forward Michael Pontarelli, and Melville Millionaires goalie Alex Wakaluk.

The winner will join a distinguished list of past honourees that includes current and former NHLers Joe Colborne (2008,), Kyle Turris (2007), Jeff Tambellini (2002), Dany Heatley (1999), Mike Comrie (1998), Paul Kariya (1992) and Greg Johnson (1989).

Source: BayToday.ca

With the victory the Buzzers now advance to Saturday’s Dudley-Hewitt Cup championship game against the Minnesota Wilderness (SIJHL) at 7 p.m. with the winner there moving on to represent the region at the 2013 Royal Bank Cup Canadian National Junior A championship, May 11-19 in Summerside, P.E.I.

The only goal of the opening period on this night came via special teams as the Thunderbirds’ Ryan Vendramin capitalized with four minutes to go in the session.

The back and forth affair saw both sides trades chances in the middle frame with St. Michael’s notching the equalizer as David Italiano fired one into the top right hand corner from the left face-off circle at 16:02 to tie it after 40 minutes.

After successfully killing off a penalty the Buzzers took the lead four minutes into the final stanza as Jordan Merante zipped one home from the high slot past Sault Ste. Marie starter Steven Dombrosky.

The Ontario Junior Hockey League title holders added some insurance midway through the period as Troy Josephs jammed in a loose puck that trickled through the legs of Dombrosky just across the goal line.

St. Michael’s continued their onslaught taking full control as Buzzers’ blueliner Jordan Schneider got into the act with eight minutes to go while Josephs’ second on the night with 3:51 remaining finished things off.

Final shots on goal favoured the OJHLers by a 45-31 margin.

Player of the game honours went to Merante and Vendramin.

Game sheet attached in PDF

Dudley-Hewitt Cup
April 30-May 4 @ North Bay

Schedule/Results
April 30
St. Michael’s 4 Soo 2
North Bay 4 Minnesota 1
May 1
Minnesota 7 Soo 0
St. Michael’s 5 North Bay 2
May 2
Minnesota 3 St. Michael’s 0
Soo 4 North Bay 3 (OT)
May 3
Semifinal: St. Michael’s 5 vs. Soo 1
May 4
Final: Minnesota vs. St. Michael’s 7 p.m.

Brandon Warmington had the winner for the Soo in the extra frame, after they squandered a 3-0 lead in the third period. Warmington won Player of the Game honours.

With both the Soo and North Bay holding records of 1-2 and trailing matching 2-1 records sported by St. Michael’s Buzzers (OJHL) and Minnesota Wilderness (SIJHL), the T-Birds advanced based on the first tie breaking procedure, which is head-to-head play.

Brennen Dubchak scored twice, earning the Player of the Game nod for North Bay. Trevor Hunt also scored a goal.

“I don’t have a feeling, I’m kind of numb,” said Trappers head coach Tom McCarthy, “All my feelings are for them, all my feelings are theirs. I’ve been in that room as a player before and have worked that hard and just miss that little doblet that comes when it’s almost in reach so my feelings are for them. I think we’re all in a little bit of a shock a bit too but I give credit to my boys for never quitting. Down 3-0 and they keep fighting and keep fighting and keep fighting. We hit cross bars, we hit posts, we didn’t get a bloody bounce around the net, we were all over them in the overtime. One flip of the puck goes down the other end and that’s how it ends and it’s a shame but at the same time, I’m so proud of how we are, with how we got here and what we’ve done and what we’ve accomplished. We’ve had way more accomplishment than we’ve had defeat, it’s just a little bit of a shock right now. I think nobody likes to think it’s good to end and when it’s great like it has been this year, you just don’t want it to end and it’ll take a little while to settle in.”

Greg Dodds got the start in goal and although he looked to have been hurt at one point, he stuck it out, making 47 saves in the loss. Steven Dombrosky stopped 36 shots in his first start since Game 4 of the NOJHL Championship series.

“I guess if somebody’s worried about whether they’re going to be employed or not, they’d probably go back with Joel (Horodziejczyk) today,” said T-Birds head coach Kevin Cain of switching goaltenders for this game, “But since I don’t have to worry about being employed, Stevey got the start today, he deserved a start. He’s played real well for us so really wasn’t much of a decision to make today.”

Ryan Vendramin made the offense happen early for the Soo, scoring two goals..

He opened the scoring at 9:31 of the opening period, getting a pass from Anthony Miller in close and flipped it over Dodds’ pad.

Brandon Janke and Joey Miller saw early exits, as they dropped the gloves at 3:56 of the second.

About six minutes later, after a scoring opportunity went the Trappers way, it came back down and with Vendramin uncovered close to the net, Miller found his linemate and it was 2-0.

At the end of the second period, Justin Schneeberger took a roughing penalty and the Soo started the third on the power play.

Only seconds left on the penalty clock that started in the third, David Radke found room to shoot and made it 3-0, his first goal of the season.

Dubchak broke the goose egg on the Traps side, solving Dombrosky at 5:30.

The Traps would continue the pressure, an excellent individual effort by Beau Orser, carrying the puck on the power play inside the zone to draw the crowd to his side. The play worked as he sent it to a wide-open Hunt, cutting in towards the net. Hunt skated in and Dombrosky couldn’t get over in time for the NOJHL playoff MVP to deposit the puck in the open net to cut the deficit down to one.

With just over two minutes to go, Dubchak snapped a shot from the slot up high, hitting twine, tying the game and forcing the extra session with his second goal of the period. He got Player of the Game laurels for North Bay.

Warmington silenced the crowd, going in alone after chances by both teams to finish it. He got hold of a turnover, walked in alone on Dodds and beat him high top right corner to give the T-Birds new life.

Cain says he had some elements working against him but admits with these two teams, like it has been all year, it could have gone either way.

“Nine forwards, no captain, all the young kids playing on defense, Stevey playing in goal, I couldn’t be prouder,” he said, “The kids really worked hard and were full marks. North Bay is a very good team, we got them tonight, they would get us another night, just one of those things.”

McCarthy says his team should hold their head high and that hockey is a funny game sometimes.

“You saw the pressure, you saw our passion and our will and everything to want to win and compete and continue to get stronger and get stronger and never quit and that’s what we have to be most proud of in who we are and what we were all year,” he said,

“We have a great memory this year as a team and as a family that will last forever. We are the champions of our league and that can never be taken away from us and that’s well deserved by those young men in there and it’s just a shame that they didn’t get a taste of the next step.”

The Trappers season might be done, but as hosts, there is still hockey to be played at Memorial Gardens. The T-Birds will take on St. Michael’s at 7:00 p.m. and the winner will advance to the Dudley-Hewitt Cup final on Saturday night against Minnesota, who received a bye in virtue of their 1st place finish in the round robin.

Game Notes
-The attendance was 687.

Source: BayToday.ca

Shane Conacher potted a shorthanded goal in the second period that turned out to be the game-winner and got Player of the Game honours. Danny Carter received the award on the Trappers side, scoring one goal.

Graham Pickard scored the other Trapper goal. Brandon Janke and Samuel Blanchet registered assists on both Trapper goals.

Stephen Pietrobon scored twice, while Jake Evans and Michael Neville scored once for the Buzzers. Evans also had an assist.

“There’s no question they’re a great hockey team,” Trappers head coach Tom McCarthy said of the Buzzers, “They’re pretty balanced, they execute puck movement very well, and consequently, I think tonight, we made a few obvious mistakes or errors that ended up in our net. One off a face off, one on a power play, they score a shorthanded goal. Those are two deflating goals, they come very quick and unexpected.”

The Buzzers wasted no time in this one, scoring the opener just 25 seconds in. A hard forecheck into the corner of the Trappers zone led to Pietrobon’s first of the game.

Carter tied it for the Trappers at 6:24, getting a rebound around in close to the goal, playing as a forward on that occasion.

St. Mike’s had little trouble winning face offs in the offensive zone and at 15:48, it was rewarded with a goal as CJHL Rookie of the Year candidate Jake Evans snapped a quick shot right off the draw over the shoulder of Dodds.

C.J. Shugart was sent to the box at 10:19 of the second period and the Trappers went to work on the power play. They moved the puck around but as Cole Klippenstein misplayed the puck at the blue line, Conacher tipped it forward and took off. He juked Dodds out of position and slid it in the right side for a shorthanded marker and it was 3-1.

“Having a power play, it’s just little things that as I’ve expressed to the boys, all the little things or all the little mistakes and all the little things that happen can become very amplified in a tournament like this,” McCarthy said, “Because it only takes one bounce of the puck and sometimes it ends up in your net so we have to be a little more diligent in those little areas and battle through those possessions and the strength on the puck and understand how important every little battle is. Consequently, that deflated us a little bit, being behind a couple goals and we never got our mojo going again and as we started going, the penalization and the penalties sort of kept flooding at us and it’s very tough to get any kind of momentum or flow going when you’re shorthanded.”

Special teams continued to be a factor in the second, as St. Mike’s got themselves a power play opportunity. They utilized some great passing and Neville got the last touch from a point shot at 16:48 to get a three-goal cushion going into the final frame.

In the third, there were penalties going both ways and nobody converting and for the Trappers, they wanted a way back into the game. Pickard scored his goal with 1:24 remaining and they were down by two.

The Buzzers would prove to be too much on this night, as Pietrobon put his second into the open cage with Dodds pulled to seal it.

The final day of round robin play means one more game for each team. McCarthy says no matter what the standings are at this point, the Traps need to prepare for a tough opponent in the Soo.

“I think we need to now readjust and put our minds into how we can play hockey and how we play against the Soo,” he said, “We have an opportunity to get ourselves that second win and maybe tomorrow, Minnesota beats St. Mike’s and we can all be sitting at the same scenario and it might come down to the math but we can’t concern ourselves with the first game and we can’t concern ourselves with anything more than ‘Here we are in a Game 7 situation again, with the same hockey team we played two weeks ago’ so it’s a familiar area but it’s a matter of recognizing and making sure that you show up to play.”

McCarthy also says that they aren’t mis-led by the 0-2 performance thus far by their NOJHL counterparts.

“We’re quite familiar with that,” McCarthy said of the offensive potential of the Soo, “When you play a team for a championship in your league and you go seven games, we know they can come back. We had them at 3-1 and they came back and tied the series to make it and force a Game 7 so I don’t think we’ll ever be looking past that. I know I won’t let them so it’s about 60 minutes tomorrow and that’s all that matters.”

Day 3 sees the Buzzers looking to go 3-0 and clinch their spot into Saturday’s final as they take on the SIJHL Champion Minnesota Wilderness at 2:30 p.m. The night game sees a rematch of the NOJHL Championship series as the Trappers and Thunderbirds go at it at 7:00 p.m.

Standings after Day 2
St. Michael’s (2-0-0; 4 PTS) (9 GF; 4 GA)
North Bay (1-1-0; 2 PTS) (6 GF; 6 GA)
Minnesota (1-1-0; 2 PTS) (8 GF; 4 GA)
Soo T-Birds (0-2-0; 0 PTS) (2 GF; 11 GA)

Game Notes
-The attendance was 639.
-The Traps out shot the Buzzers 37-31.
-Adrian Ignagni made 35 saves in the win for the Buzzers, while Dodds made 26 saves in the loss.

Wilderness rout T-Birds in Day 2 matinee
NORTH BAY – Jordan Shockley tallied twice and added an assist while Gordy Defiel stopped all 21 shots he faced to lead the Minnesota Wilderness (SIJHL) to a 7-0 victory over Soo Thunderbirds (NOJHL) Wednesday afternoon.

Shockley won Player of the Game for Minnesota while Dallas McLaughlin got the nod for the Soo.

The Wilderness also got goals from Mike Dietrich, Jeremy Johnson, Jake Larson, Nick McCormack and Zach Thielen.

Source: BayToday.ca

Connor Gilmartin, Cole Klippenstein, Brennen Dubchak and Tait Seguin all scored for the Traps, who were out shot 50-21.

“I knew it was going to be a tough game,” said goaltender Greg Dodds, “They’re ranked second in Canada right now so I knew I had to bring my game and fortunately, the boys brought theirs to and we got a nice win.”

Dodds was named Player of the Game for the Trappers, while Jake Larsen got the honour for the Wilderness, scoring the only goal for the visiting squad.

The victory is nice to get, according to Trappers Club Governor and Director of Operations Tim Clayden and praised the work the team as a whole put in for the win.

“I think the coaching staff for the North Bay Trappers, and especially coach McCarthy deserves a lot of credit,” he said, “You gotta remember, as far as I know, he’s the only guy here on all four teams that’s played in two Stanley Cup Finals (1981 with Minnesota North Stars and 1988 for the Boston Bruins), so he’s been here at a much higher, difficult level and Tommy knows what it takes.”

“There’s no question about it, he has his team prepared and ready to play,” Clayden continued, “I think tonight, if you could bottle about 50 minutes of our hockey, then we’d all be going to another level so my hat goes off, the coaching staff is fantastic here in Terry (Exell) and (Stacy) Jackson and then Tommy comes in here with his leadership and you know, it’s all about Tom McCarthy and his hockey players in that dressing room, they’re the people who deserve the credit.”

The first period had the two teams exchange opportunities and no penalties to either side. Dodds and Minnesota goaltender Gordon Defiel did their share as well, making saves to keep it scoreless.

The Trappers would strike first though as at 11:18, Gilmartin got the puck off a face off win in his own zone and used great speed to beat the defenders out, get in alone and tucked a backhand down low into the net.

In the second, the first penalty of the game went to the Wilderness and the Trappers set up shop.

At 7:38, 24 seconds into the man advantage, Klippenstein wound up a slapper from the point and teed off, beating Defiel clean and giving the Traps a two-goal lead.

The power play continued to be a factor, when the second penalty against the SIJHL franchise occurred a couple minutes later, a roughing call against Conrad Sampair.

This time, it was Dubchak’s turn to make a great play. He got a hold of a rebound and with Defiel trying to extend his pad to block a quick shot, Dubchak displayed great patience with the puck, getting it around his pad in close, getting the puck inside the crease and stuffing it in the cage at 10:29.

The Wilderness got their first man-advantage situation in the second, but couldn’t score.

In the third, the Wilderness got a few more opportunities in that regard, and they would finally make it count at 11:14. Larsen, the CJHL Rookie of the Year candidate, got a shot through a crowd that found the top corner and it was 3-1.

“I saw almost every shot that was taken on me except for that goal and a lot of key blocked shots at the end there, Tait with a great one and that’s huge for me,” said Dodds, “When I see the puck and they’re blocking shots, it’s just a great team effort.”

Minnesota pulled the goalie with a couple minutes to go, but the shot block by Seguin mentioned before developed into the empty net opportunity at 18:57.

There were 919 fans in attendance for this game, while 509 took in the afternoon affair between St. Michael’s and the Soo. Clayden says it’s no secret the fans in the North Bay area are knowledgeable and enthusiastic.

“I think in North Bay, there’s no question North Bay has a long tradition of being a hockey city,” said Clayden. “It’s always nice when you win in front of them and I think they help propel the team at times with their excitement and their enthusiasm so for the home team, it was a good day and I like to think the visiting teams had a good start to their week and it doesn’t matter, any given night here, it’s going to be tough, it’s very good hockey. There’s four good teams here and anybody can win on any given night and I think this thing’s a long way from over.”

Buzzers swarm T-Birds in DHC Opener

Shane Conacher had a goal and two assists to help propel the St. Michael’s Buzzers (OJHL) to a 4-2 victory over the Soo Thunderbirds (NOJHL) in opening game action at the Dudley-Hewitt Cup Central Canada Junior championship.

Jordan Merante took Player of the Game laurels for the Buzzers, scoring once and adding a helper.

Troy Josephs and Michael Neville scored the other goals for St. Mike’s, while Adam Ritchie and Brandon Warmington scored for the Soo.

Joel Horodziejczyk stopped 52 of 56 shots to win the Player of the Game award on the T-Birds’ side.

“I thought we battled,” said T-Birds head coach Kevin Cain, “I didn’t think we moved our feet as well as we could have the first couple periods. We’re kind of happy to hang on a little bit, once in a while but third period, I thought we moved our feet a little better and generated a little more. We’re a little better team than I think today but when you have such a young team, you don’t know how they’re going to react. I almost thought it was almost like they were playing to not lose as opposed to play to win for the first half of the game but once they realize they could play, they worked harder to score with 1-0 but we give up some goals in the third but I thought we battled a lot harder and we had some opportunities.”

Round robin play continues tomorrow as the T-Birds face Minnesota in the 2:30 p.m. matinee and then the Buzzers face the Jr. Trappers in the 7:00 p.m. game.

Source: BayToday.ca

2013 – 2014
FREE AGENT TRAINING CAMP
June 7, 8 & 9th

Camp Schedule

Friday June 7th 7:15 to 10:45 pm
Saturday June 8th 7:15 am to 10:15 am
Saturday June 8th 12:15 pm to 2:15 pm
Saturday June 8th 6:15 pm to 9:15 pm
Sunday June 9th 10:15 am to 11:45 am
Sunday June 9th 1:15 pm 3:15 pm

FOR PLAYERS BORN BETWEEN 1997 AND 1993

PLAYER’S ARE ACCEPTED ON A FIRST COME – FIRST SERVE BASIS

Player’s are asked to submit their completed On-Line Player Profile
http://thetrappers.ca/become-a-trapper/

With as many as 14 active players graduating to the next level following the completion of this season, the 2013-14 North Bay Jr. A Trappers Hockey Club will have many openings at all positions next season.

All players are asked to bring their permission to skate letters to the camp.

Anyone interested in playing for the 2013-14 North Bay Jr. ‘A’ Trappers, is asked to contact Trappers Director of Operations directly by email at your convenience at <tim.clayden@northbaytrappers.com>.

(Game starts after Opening Ceremonies)

Wednesday May 01/13
8:00am                 MINNESOTA WILDERNESS PRACTICE
9:00am                 ST MIKE’S BUZZERS PRACTICE
10:00am               SOO THUNDERBIRDS PRACTICE
11:00am               NORTH BAY TRAPPERS PRACTICE
2:30pm                 SOO THUNDERBIRDS VS MINNESOTA WILDERNESS
7:00pm                 ST MIKE’S BUZZERS VS NORTH BAY TRAPPERS

Thursday May 02/13
8:00am                 SOO THUNDERBIRDS PRACTICE
9:00am                 MINNESOTA WILDERNESS PRACTICE
10:00am               ST MIKE’S BUZZERS PRACTICE
11:00am               NORTH BAY TRAPPERS PRACTICE
2:30pm                 MINNESOTA WILDERNESS VS ST MIKE’S BUZZERS
7:00pm                 NORTH BAY TRAPPERS VS SOO THUNDERBIRDS

Friday May 03/13
10:00am               3^rd Place Finisher      Practice
11:00am               2^nd Place Finisher     Practice
12:00pm               1^st Place Finisher      Practice
7:00pm                 Semi-Final Game      2^nd vs 3^rd

Saturday May 04/13
10:00am               1st Place Finisher         Practice
11:00am               Semi-Final Winner       Practice
7:00pm                 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

OVERTIME GAME POLICY

Should an afternoon game go into overtime periods that affect the start of the evening game, the evening game start time will be rescheduled to one (1) hour after the final whistle of the afternoon game.

2013 Dudley Hewitt Cup

The Trappers won the NOJHL Copeland Cup-McNamara Trophy with a 3-1 victory over the defending champions, the Soo Thunderbirds.

“It’s a wonderful feeling,” said North Bay head coach Tom McCarthy on the ice following the trophy presentations. “It’s such a great feeling for the boys. They’ve worked so hard all season for this.”

The Trappers won the best of seven series four games to three, after holding a three games to one series lead.

McCarthy says the team’s work isn’t done yet, as they’ve only accomplished a small portion of what the team has set out to do this season.

“It’s two legs of four,” he said.

McCarthy and the Trappers set out at the start of the season to win the regular season title, win the NOJHL playoff title and now the next step is to win the Dudley-Hewitt Cup over the next week and earn the right to play at the RBC Cup in Summerside, P.E.I.

North Bay started game seven the way they wanted to start games five and six, both of which they ultimately lost, with hard, tight checking that didn’t allow for the Thunderbirds to get any flow in their game going.

It didn’t take long and the Trappers were on the board with their first goal from Brennen Dubchak who wired a shot from the blue line that found its way behind Thunderbirds goalie Joel Horodziejczyk 2:53 into the first period. Trevor Hunt and Beau Orser had the helpers on the goal.

The Soo bench wanted a penalty called as one of their defencemen was down on the ice in front of the crease as the play was allowed to continue.

North Bay continued to hustle and played a solid defensive game and were able to put a lot of pressure on the Soo, which put them on their heels.

The Trappers then doubled their lead at the eight minute mark of the period on a goal Horodziejczyk wishes he could have back as Daune Wainman’s point shot was able to trickle between his legs and wobble across the goal line for a 2-0 North Bay lead before the half way mark of the first period. Hunt and Orser both picked up the assists again.

Greg Dodds was confident in his play and was able to see everything the Thunderbirds threw his way. He was able to direct the puck away from the front of the net and corral any rebounds to keep the score unchanged as the first period expired.

North Bay wasn’t about to let the Soo back into the game in the second period, as they kept up their defensive pressure, and at various points in the middle frame, the Thunderbirds were unable to get the puck past the Trappers blue line.

“Our backs were against the wall tonight too and we played desperate hockey,” said McCarthy. “Any time we had to play desperate hockey during the season we were able to climb out.”

The Thunderbirds were able to cut the score in half when Dallas McLaughlin scored a bad angle power play goal that just snuck between Dodds’ shoulder and the crossbar for a 2-1 score.

The goal seemed to spark some life into the Soo, but the score held as first 40 minutes entered the books.

The Thunderbirds came out full force in the third period as they only had 20 minutes to score an equalizer and they were able to put the Trappers on their heels, and were outshooting and outplaying the home team.

“You are always worried when a team has to play desperate hockey,” said McCarthy of the Thunderbirds strong play at the start of the final period. “They were taking risks and making mistakes and we capitalized on it.”

The Thunderbirds took one too many risks, and on a bad clearing attempt, it created a two-on-one in the Trappers favour.

Trevor Hunt recovered the puck and with Brandon Janke alone up the ice, he was able to beat the lone defenceman and then tucked the puck behind Horodziejczyk for the 3-1 score, which sealed the Trappers victory, as the goal seemed to suck the energy from the Thunderbirds.

“That goal sealed the deal for us,” said McCarthy. “It was a nice relief.”

He said the Trappers played the way he had hoped they would have earlier in the series, when North Bay had the chance to finish the series off on game five and six.

“I told the guys that this game was all about fate,” McCarthy said. “We were all supposed to be here, at this time, together. It just happened to work out in our favour.”

The Trappers will be joined by the Soo Thunderbirds as the second NOJHL team at the five-day event along with the St. Michael’s Buzzers (OJHL) and Minnesota Wilderness (SIJHL) to see who will represent the region at the Royal Bank Cup May 11-19 in Summerside, P.E.I.

Hunt was named the playoff MVP as he scored three goals and seven assists for 10 points in 12 postseason games, including setting up all three North Bay tallies in Wednesday’s series-deciding game 7.

Earlier this season Hunt was named the recipient of the Gilles Laperriere Trophy, which goes annually to the league’s most improved player.

The Dudley-Hewitt Cup begins on April 30 at the Memorial Gardens and continues until May 4.

Source: Nugget.ca

It’s North Bay’s first NOJHL title since 2005, when they were the Skyhawks.

“Very dramatic, it’s wonderful, I was so excited,” said Jr. Trappers head coach Tom McCarthy of winning the decisive game.

“I’ve had obviously in my 40 some odd years in hockey, the privilege of being in a Game 7 many times,” he said, “Not too often as a coach, but as a player and any way you look at it, I think it’s a lot easier to be a player in that game than it is to be a coach but it’s about executing a game plan in a Game 7. Small mistakes that happen get magnified and I thought we were the better team on making less mistakes tonight and battling and competing and consequently, it worked out. The ice was tilted a little in our favour.”

Brennen Dubchak, Duane Wainman and Brandon Janke scored the goals for the home team. Trevor Hunt registered three assists, claiming playoff MVP honours in the process.

Hunt says he just liked keeping things simple on the ice to grind out the win.

“Get the puck down low, try to make as little mistakes as you can and if I’m not getting scored on, it’s a job well done for me.” he said.

For the T-Birds, Dallas McLaughlin scored the lone goal. Soo head coach Kevin Cain said the kids battled through a lot. With the Jr. Trappers hosting the Dudley-Hewitt Cup next week, the T-Birds are still on the ice. Cain says talks of defending that crown will probably begin on the bus ride back to the Soo.

“(We were) down 3-1 (in the series), found a way to give what they had tonight and we were a goal or two short,” he said, “But next week’s a whole new week and the sun will rise tomorrow and we’ll move on.”

The Trappers jumped out to the early lead. Just 2:53 in, Dubchak took a shot in the slot, that seemed unexpected from Soo goalie Joel Horodziejczyk at that point but it found the twine.

At 7:57, the Traps extended the lead, thanks in part to an impressive rush into the zone by Beau Orser. He carried the puck along to the half boards and got it to Hunt at the point. He shot through a crowd and Wainman re-directed it in.

“No question we wanted the lead,” said McCarthy, “It seemed like here in the series that the team that jumped out early seemed to win the game so fortunately we did, probably could’ve had six or eight or ten more, couple goal posts and stuff but consequently, we got enough and it was all we needed.”

Greg Dodds made 12 saves in the first, 39 saves overall. Horodziejczyk made 37 saves in the loss.

In the second, the Soo struck back with an individual effort by McLaughlin. At 14:44, he deked around a couple Trapper players when coming into the offensive zone. He found a lane going east-west and his shot found the top corner over Dodds’ glove hand.

With the Trappers still holding the lead in the third, the T-Birds pressed the action hard but at 16:03, the playoff MVP Hunt found Janke, who went in alone. He made no mistake, as McCarthy says he was already ready for a face off at centre ice when he saw who was skating in. He says he felt a sense of relief when the goal was actually scored.

“We had talked so much about what to do when you get into those situations,” said McCarthy, “He’s had penalty shots for us this year and scored and not scored. He’s had a lot of those situations. He’s scored big goals for us in overtime and stuff but one thing we were trying to work on on (Horodziejczyk) was the stick side and obviously, as he went in, he recollected enough to bury that puck on stick side and that certainly was a good feeling, but the game wasn’t over.”

The two-goal lead was restored, but the Soo continued the pressure. A high sticking penalty to Daniel Pymaki about a minute and a half after the Janke goal got the Traps a late power play chance, and gave them time to kill off the clock.

“The whole thing was about possession, not about penetration and we played it to a tee,” McCarthy said about the strategy in the late-game situation, “I’m very proud on how we listened and how we executed.”

The final seconds counted down as the Traps held the puck behind the net. The horn went and the crowd of 1,161 celebrated.

After the celebration on the ice, the Traps headed to the locker room, with thoughts of adding to their trophy case already on their minds.

“We’ve already talked about it,” said McCarthy, “We’re building a four legged horse this year and it’s only got two legs. We won our league, then we won the championship of our league, next week, we’ve gotta build the third leg on that horse and win that Dudley. We’ve already started talking about it, practice is Friday.”

The 2013 Dudley-Hewitt Cup starts on Tuesday, April 30 with two games. At 2:30 p.m, the OJHL Champion St. Michael’s Buzzers face the Soo Thunderbirds.

The night game on Tuesday features the Jr. Trappers taking on the SIJHL Champion Minnesota Wilderness. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m.

All games throughout the Dudley-Hewitt Cup tournament will be broadcasted at nojhl.fasthockey.com on a pay-per-view basis.

Souece: BayToday.ca
Photo by Chris Dawson