The city champion Sir James Dunn Eagles recorded a win and a tie in the opening day of competition at the Northern Ontario Secondary Schools Association (NOSSA) AA hockey championships in North Bay on Tuesday.
The Eagles began the day with a 5-0 romp over North Bay’s West Ferris Trojans before battling Sudbury’s Confederation to a 5-5 tie.
Eagles forward David McFadden is on fire at the tournament and has recorded a point on all 10 goals for the Eagles thus far.
Sir James Dunn will now complete the round robin on Wednesday at 10 a.m. against North Bay’s Algonquin Barons, who has already secured a berth in Wednesday night’s championship game at 7 p.m.
Against the Trojans, McFadden put the Eagles on the board early scoring 1:17 into the first period.
The score remained 1-0 until McFadden struck again in the second, this time with a back-breaking shorthanded goal to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead. Then a minute later Stephane Bouliane put his club up by three. Matt Irving scored early in the third to make it 4-0.
However, the Trojans did show some life shortly after the goal. On the powerplay, Dan Trnka was absolutely robbed by goalie John Ellis who caught a Trnka shot while he was lying on his back.
David McFadden completed his hat-trick less than two minutes later.
Against Confederation, Tyler Robinson, Steve Mitchell, Irving, McFadden and Bouliene handled the Sir James Dunn scoring.
*** NOSSA AAA:
At the NOSSA AAA Playdowns in Sudbury, the St. Basil Saints fell to 0-2 and out of the race for a championship after a 5-3 loss to North Bay’s Widdifield Wildcats. The Saints opened with a 4-1 loss to Sudbury’s St. Charles.
Justin Minelli scored the Saints lone goal against St. Charles while Steven Nelli, Mike Dias and Anthony Spina scored against Widdifield.
(With files from Chris Dawson from BayToday.ca)