Sault Ste. Marie completes sweep of Sudbury

NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE

NOJHL COMMUNICATIONS
MEDIA RELEASE

Release Date: Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Sault Ste. Marie completes sweep of Sudbury

SUDBURY – The Soo Thunderbirds have earned the right to play for their second consecutive Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League championship.

Sault Ste. Marie punched their ticket to the NOJHL final Wednesday evening after defeating the Sudbury Nickel Barons 3-1 at McClelland Arena and completing a four-game sweep of the league semifinal series.

They will now await the winner of the other semifinal match-up between the North Bay Trappers and Kirkland Lake Gold Miners, which is currently tied at 1-1 heading into game 3 Friday in Kirkland Lake.

In Wednesday’s contest the Thunderbirds got all the offensive production they would require on this night in the first period.

After Anthony Miller opened the scoring at 13:56, Brandon Warmington notched his league-leading 10th goal of the playoffs, in what turned out to be the game-winning marker.

The Nickel Barons pulled to within one in the middle stanza as the NOJHL’s most valuable player in Darcy Haines, set-up Michael Laidley for his second postseason effort.

It stayed at 2-1 until late in regulation when the T-Birds iced it as Miller potted his second of the evening, finding the empty net to wrap up the scoring and help the Soo improve to 8-0 in the 2013 playoffs.

Steven Dombrowski was solid in the Sault Ste. Marie net making 49 saves to register the victory while Alexander Laino faced 45 shots in a losing cause for Sudbury.

NOJHL Playoffs: Round 2
Semifinals

Series D
No. 1 North Bay Trappers vs. No. 4 Kirkland Lake Gold Miners
Best-of-seven series tied 1-1

Game 1: North Bay 2 Kirkland Lake 1 (OT)
Game 2: Kirkland Lake 2 North Bay 1
Game 3: Friday, April 5 @ Kirkland Lake 7:30 p.m. (Joe Mavrinac)
Game 4: Saturday, April 6 @ Kirkland Lake 7:30 p.m. (Joe Mavrinac)
Game 5: Monday, April 8 @ North Bay 7 p.m. (Memorial Gardens)
Game 6*: Tuesday, April 9 @ Kirkland Lake 7:30 p.m. (Joe Mavrinac)
Game 7*: Thursday, April 11 @ North Bay 7 p.m. (Memorial Gardens)

* – if necessary

Series E
No. 2 Soo Thunderbirds vs. 3 Sudbury Nickel Barons
Thunderbirds win best-of-seven series 4-0

Game 1: Soo 4 Sudbury 1
Game 2: Soo 2 Sudbury 1
Game 3: Soo 9 Sudbury 2
Game 4: Soo 3 Sudbury 1