Saddled with yet another one goal loss the previous evening, the Rayside-Balfour Canadians appeared to be in good shape to reverse the tides, fully deserving of a 4-3 advantage over the West Division leading Soo Thunderbirds, and with less than eight minutes showing on the scoreboard Sunday night in Chelmsford.
But two separate minor penalties, followed quickly by a double minor, was enough to allow that margin to evaporate, as the T-Birds edged the Canadians 5-4 on Sunday, dropping the Rayside record to 2-5 in the month of January.
"It's a little different every single night, but the biggest thing is that our penalties are really hurting us," said head coach Dave Clancy after the game. "We just take too many penalties. For the most part, our penalty kill has been good, but you take that many and it's going to break down."
It's a fine line for the Canadians crew, icing a lineup that features an obvious element of physicality, with no less than 14 different players charting in above the six foot mark in height.
"We take aggressive penalties, in on the forecheck, finishing off the forecheck, those types of penalties we can live with," said Clancy. "Anything to stop a goal is fine. It's the lazy penalties, the stick penalties, the mouthing off penalties that we don't accept."
This might sound a bit harsh when one considers that the home side were assessed only a total of eight minor infractions, with no majors or misconducts called, opposite the Thunderbirds. But in a league where parity is king, the fact that the visitors allowed three less power play opponents can be key.
Rayside-Balfour enjoyed a 3-1 lead after twenty minutes of play, spotting the Soo an early goal from Keenan Eddy, but roaring back with strikes from Kyle Liinamaa, André Frappier and Tristan Simm.
The Thunderbirds netted the only tally of the middle frame, with captain Matt Caruso halving the deficit, before Chad Denault (Rayside) and Mike Winn (Sault Ste Marie) traded goals in the opening ten minutes of period three.
Capitalizing on Rayside indiscretions, Austin Kozluk and Sean Emmerson both scored with their team one man up, just enough to help the T-Birds improve to 30-11-1-0 (61 pts), ten better than the Blind River Beavers and 13 more than the Rayside crew who closed the weekend at 22-16-3-1.
The Kirkland Lake Gold Miners edged Clancy and company 4-3 on Saturday, as Gunnar Wegleitner buried a pair, including the game-winner to lead the visitors to victory.
Matthew Brassard and Brandon Carr-Ansah accounted for the balance of the Gold Miners' offense, while Cayse Ton, Ian Robbie and Jordan Spadafore countered in a losing cause for the Canadians.
It's a quiet weekend ahead for the local NOJHLers, who travel State-side on Saturday (Jan 28th) to face the Soo Eagles, before tackling a home and home set with the Espanola Express on February 3rd and 4th.
Despite the concerns over the lack of discipline, from time to time, with his team, Clancy has certainly enjoyed his return to junior hockey. "We're competing," he noted. "I've always said about this group that they do work hard."
"We've had trouble scoring goals most of the year, but we're starting to find a bit of that." And there is the hope of the added punch that will come from the return of Dylan Callaghan and Evan Krassey from injuries.
"Those are two big pieces of our club," said Clancy. "When they get back, hopefully we can find a bit more scoring."
