The two highest scoring teams in the NOJHL hook up Wednesday as the Kal Tire Sudbury Junior Wolves host the Blind River Beavers.
Game time at the McClelland Arena in Copper Cliff is 7:30
pm.
Sudbury enters the match on a modest three-game winning streak
and has scored 171 goals for. Blind River enters the contest
having gone 3-2 in their last five games and has scored 159
goals for.
Wolves head coach Darryl Moxam has been stressing defensive
play recently, and has received it. In their last three games,
all wins, Sudbury has 19 goals for and just six against.
"I want more of the same play against Blind River," said the
bench boss. "If we're not ready, they will bury us. We have
a great group of offensive guys. We need to pay attention to
detail in our own end of the ice to win as you can't always
scored four or five goals per game in the playoffs. Playing a
good defensive game, they will not lose any offensive ability."
In past years, the NOJHL has been typically dominated by one
powerhouse squad. This isn't the case this season as four
teams are gunning for the top spot - Sudbury, Soo, Abitibi and
Blind River. North Bay is a dark horse in the race.
Good competition makes for stronger teams and better action.
"It's great for every team...hopefully the days are gone
where one team pulls away," said Moxam. "It better prepares the
team which is fortunate enough to come out of this league...to
play for a national championship. It showed last year for our
team...how well we did can be directly attributed to how good
the league was."
The Junior Wolves are going to be without the services of
defender Kyle Hope as he has an upper body injury.
"He's a gamer and Kyle brings toughness and skill to the
defence...unfortunaletely, he will be out for quite some time."
Sudbury is getting outstanding goaltending from their
veteran/rookie combo. Fourth year player Darren Rowlandson has
gone 16-10-0 with a 3.56 goal-against-average (GAA) and a .898
save percentage. Freshman Alain Valiquette has also impressed
as a 16-year-old with a 8-4-0 record and a 3.05 GAA and a .910
save percentage.
"Darren brings experience and confidence...I have no worries he
can step it up and be the guy who can bring a team to a
championship," said Moxam. "Alain is a great young goalie.
There's no question he will be a great OHL goalie. He has
incredible poise and maturity. It's like last year, we have
two starting goalies and we can throw one in at any time...we
like this option heading into the playoffs."
The Beavers are in fourth place with a record of 20-14-0-4. The
team features several local players, including most prominently
defenceman Andre Gauvin and goalie Shawn Sirman.
Gauvin is one to watch as he leads all NOJHL defenders in
scoring with 37 points in 35 games. Sirman is one of the top
rookie goalies in the league with a record of 9-5-2 and a 3.16
GAA and a .906 save percentage.
