The Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League crowned their playoff champion on Tuesday night at Big Bear Arena in the Michigan Sault as the North Bay Skyhawks captured their third straight title with a 4-2 victory over the Northern Michigan Black Bears.
The victory allowed the Hawks to win the best-of-seven series four games to two.
The Hawks, who beat the Soo Thunderbirds for their previous two league titles, earned a berth in the Dudley Hewitt Cup which kicks off in Georgetown, Ontario on Apr. 26.
The Hawks opened the scoring in the first period at 4:02 when David Frawley beat Black Bears goaltender Tony Stoehr high to the glove side on the Hawks first of 23 shots on the evening.
After Steve Kruszewski tied the game with a power play goal at 1:42 of the second period, the Hawks gave themselves some breathing room later in the middle frame when Yves Bastien and Josh Merson scored 1:03 apart to give the Hawks a two goal cushion.
The Merson goal came off a point shot through a crowd that Stoehr could not pick up early enough to stop.
Fittingly, the third year veteran Frawley sealed the victory late in the third period when he banged a rebound past Stoehr at 14:07 to cap off the game and the series for North Bay.
The Hawks also won the final two games of the series with Chris Abbey between the pipes after the netminder entered in game four in relief of Mike Lalande.
"That's the life of a coach (to make moves like that)," said Hawks bench boss Randy Edmonds. "One day you're a hero, the next day you're a bum. I've done it for 14 years. We wanted to get Chris Abbey in the series earlier. Both goalies have been good for us all year and we really have no number one. It was tough. Mike had won the previous four games without losing if you count the last series (against Abitibi).
"In the previous series we even took out Tyler Perry, the league's leading scorer in the playoffs. We basically booked him off the team for discipline reasons and now we replaced a goalie. We have the ability to use everybody and everybody contributed.
"You never know when you do something like that, what kind of effect it will have on your team. I've had to do it unfortunately in the past. I've had positive effects where other players have really picked their games up and played better and it made us more of a team."
On the other side, Black Bears coach Gerry Lortie felt his club was not at their best in game six and it showed.
"We never had a practice in the whole series and it showed," said Lortie, "especially in the last game. We never played up to par tonight or over the last two games. We didn't bring our forecheck to the rink tonight or last night (Monday).
"It was heartbreaking to lose like this but we've came a long way as a second year team," Lortie said. "We have nothing to be ashamed of. We'll have everybody back but four players next year. I'm proud of all 25 of those guys. Next year they'll have a hell of a team here."
Lortie also said he will not be returning as head coach of the Black Bears, citing the time commitment involved as the reasoning behind his decision. He added that he recommended assistant coach Bart Jarrett for the position.
The Skyhawks will now represent the NOJHL at the Dudley Hewitt Cup in Georgetown with the winner of that tournament earning themselves a spot in the Royal Bank Cup being held in Weyburn, Saskatchewan from May 7-15.
The Skyhawks will play their first game at the Dudley Hewitt on Apr. 26 when they face the host Georgetown Raiders.
*** NOJHL PLAYOFFS:
LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP:
1. NORTHERN MICHIGAN vs. 1. NORTH BAY
(North Bay wins series 4-2)
Game 1 - Tue. Apr. 12 - North Bay 6 Northern Michigan 5 (2OT) Game 2 - Wed. Apr. 13 - North Bay 5 Northern Michigan 2 Game 3 - Fri. Apr. 15 - Northern Michigan 2 North Bay 1 (3OT) Game 4 - Sat. Apr 16 - Northern Michigan 5 North Bay 0 Game 5 - Mon Apr. 18 - North Bay 4 Northern Michigan 0 Game 6 - Tue. Apr 19 - North Bay 4 Northern Michigan 2
(* if necessary)
SEMI-FINALS:
WESTERN DIVISION:
1. NORTHERN MICHIGAN vs. 3. SOO THUNDERBIRDS
(Northern Michigan wins series 4-2)
Game 1 - Tue. Mar. 29 - Northern Michigan 3 Soo 0 Game 2 - Fri. Apr. 1 - Northern Michigan 4 Soo 2 Game 3 - Sat. Apr. 2 - Northern Michigan 4 Soo 3 Game 4 - Mon. Apr. 4 - Soo 5 Northern Michigan 4 (2OT) Game 5 - Wed. Apr. 6 - Soo 4 Northern Michigan 3 (2OT) Game 6 - Fri. Apr. 8 - Northern Michigan 4 Soo 3 (OT)
EASTERN DIVISION:
1. NORTH BAY vs. 2. ABITIBI
(North Bay wins series 4-2)
Game 1 - Sun. Mar. 27 - North Bay 4 Abitibi 1 Game 2 - Tue. Mar. 29 - Abitibi 2 North Bay 1 (OT) Game 3 - Fri. Apr. 1 - North Bay 6 Abitibi 4 Game 4 - Sun. Apr. 3 - Abitibi 5 North Bay 4 (2OT) Game 5 - Tue. Apr. 5 - North Bay 4 Abitibi 1 Game 6 - Fri. Apr. 8 - North Bay 3 Abitibi 2
QUARTERFINALS:
WESTERN DIVISION:
2. BLIND RIVER vs. 3. SOO THUNDERBIRDS
(Soo wins series 4-1)
Game 1 - Thur. Mar. 17 - Soo 4 Blind River 2 Game 2 - Sat. Mar. 19 - Soo 6 Blind River 5 (OT) Game 3 - Mon. Mar. 21 - Blind River 4 Soo 2 Game 4 - Wed. Mar. 23 - Soo 7 Blind River 1 Game 5 - Thur. Mar. 24 - Soo 8 Blind River 3
1. NORTHERN MICHIGAN vs. 4. MANITOULIN
(Northern Michigan wins series 4-0)
Game 1 - Tue. Mar. 15 - Northern Michigan 10 Manitoulin 2 Game 2 - Wed. Mar. 16 - Northern Michigan 12 Manitoulin 2 Game 3 - Fri. Mar. 18 - Northern Michigan 13 Manitoulin 1 Game 4 - Sat. Mar. 19 - Northern Michigan 6 Manitoulin 0
EASTERN DIVISION:
1. NORTH BAY vs. 4. SUDBURY
(North Bay wins series 4-1)
Game 1 - Tue. Mar. 15 - North Bay 7 Sudbury 3 Game 2 - Wed. Mar. 16 - North Bay 4 Sudbury 1 Game 3 - Fri. Mar. 18 - Sudbury 5 North Bay 4 (OT) Game 4 - Sun. Mar. 20 - North Bay 9 Sudbury 1 Game 5 - Tue. Mar. 22 - North Bay 2 Sudbury 1 (OT)
2. ABITIBI vs. 3. RAYSIDE BALFOUR
(Abitibi wins series 4-0)
Game 1 - Mon. Mar. 14 - Abitibi 3 Rayside Balfour 2 Game 2 - Thur. Mar. 17 - Abitibi 6 Rayside Balfour 5 (OT) Game 3 - Sat. Mar. 19 - Abitibi 3 Rayside Balfour 0 Game 4 - Thu. Mar. 24 - Abitibi 6 Rayside Balfour 3
***