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GNML: Tough Weekend For Majors*
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NORTH BAY - It was a rough weekend for the Timmins Majors, who returned from a three-game road trip with a trio of losses and just one of a possible six points.

Even worse, two of those losses came against the North Bay Trappers — a 7-3 shellacking on Saturday and a 5-4 shootout decision on Sunday — a team the Majors are battling with for a playoff spot in the Great North Midget League standings.

The pair of defeats to the Trappers came on the heels of a 6-3 Majors loss in New Liskeard against the Cubs on Friday.

Early on, however, it looked like Timmins was starting off on the right foot. Dillan Bruce scored his team-leading 13th goal (in 21 games) just 1:36 into the game against New Liskeard to put the Majors up 1-0. Wayne Mathieu assisted on the play.

Cayse Ton tied it up for the Cubs midway through the first, but Joey Verbeek restored Timmins' one-goal advantage early in the second.

Then, the proverbial train fell off the rails.

A four-minute head contact penalty to defenceman Kevin Lanoix and a subsequent tripping call to rookie forward Stewart Parnell put the Majors down by two men for a full two minutes.

The Cubs' mighty power play didn't waste time, as Justin Brazeau scored a pair to put his team up for good. Brazeau completed his hat trick in the third period, while Marshal Nikitin and Gabriel Rheault also scored for the Cubs. Jordan Picard netted the Majors' third goal midway through the final frame.

“The score didn't indicate how we played,” said Majors assistant coach Cid Bradette. “They scored two goals on the five-on-three to go up, and by that time, I guess the momentum changed their way, and with the crowd, it was just tough to get back. We fought back, we battled, and I don't think the actual score indicated how we played.

“It was just those four or five minutes in the second period where lost focus, and that four-minute penalty wasn't too smart. New Liskeard is known for their power play, and they killed us with it.”

There wasn't much good to be said about Saturday's embarrassing 7-3 loss to the Trappers. The second period had barely started when it was already 4-1 for North Bay, thanks to goals by Devyn Martel, Jacob Delisle, Bob Buckley amd GNML scoring leader Jeff Jordan.

“I don't know what it is with this team, whether we're not mentally prepared to start the game — the coaching staff can definitely take some of the blame for that — but at the same time, some of the leaders on the team have to do a better job to keep everything together,” said Bradette. “We've gotten blown out I think four games this year in the regular season.

“We should never get blown out in this league, period, but especially not against a team we're fighting with for positioning in the playoffs. They're right there with us, we've beaten them twice before this weekend.”

Timmins captain Brett Andrews scored with 9:14 to go in the second to make it 4-2, but Martel and Jordan each added their second goals on the night before the end of the frame. Jacob Drinkwalter extended the Trappers' lead before Andrews scored his second of the game to make the final score 7-3.

“Right from the start of the game, they took control and we never got our rhythm in that game,” commented Bradette. “We had a couple of goals called back in the first period and that kind of drained us, and they were just a much better team than us that game. They wanted it more than us and that's why it showed in the score.”

Jace Soroko, a key scorer and two-way player for the Majors despite his rookie status, was absent from Friday's and Saturday's games because he was taking part in a tryout weekend for the U16 Team NOHA.

Soroko returned Sunday in time for a re-match against the Trappers, even managing to get his name in the goal column with an unassisted second-period marker.

But once again, Jordan had an answer for the Majors, scoring two more goals in regulation, then adding the shootout winner past Timmins goaltender Jaeden Giguere to give North Bay a 5-4 win.

But Sunday was also the Majors' strongest game of the weekend. In particular, forward Alexandre Brisson's pair of goals — including the game-tying marker assisted by Lanoix and Jared Hester with 3:48 to go — helped give the team some much-needed leadership and direction.

“He was a difference-maker,” said Bradette about Brisson. “He basically took the team on his shoulders that game, and he played like he belonged playing for the (Abitibi) Eskimos in junior hockey. He was a wrecking ball out there, he single-handedly brought us into the game.

“In the third period there was one shift, he didn't score, but he brought the level of competition of our team up to a new level, and he got that goal late, a well-deserved goal, standing in front of the net paying the price. If he can play like that for the rest of the year — he was unbelievable for us.”

Bradette said that if there was a positive to take out of the weekend, it was that the team managed to play good hockey and pick up a point in the standings.

“We played well, the shots were even, their goaltender (Brendan Dale) played well, our goaltender (Giguere) played well, and when it comes to the shootout, they've got two guys who can put the puck in the net in (Jeff) Jordan and (Devyn) Martel,” said Bradette. “We hit a post at the end of overtime, and it could have went our way. We couldn't bury, and they did, so it's just the way she fell.

“We'll take the point and get out of there. It would have been nice to get the two points because we're battling for that sixth spot, but there were a lot of positives. The boys actually came together as far as sticking up for each other. It was a pretty rough game as far as physicality of the game, and everyone was there for each other.

“We're trying to stay positive as much as we can, because a weekend like that is not very fun, but at least there are some positives there.”

After losing four in a row, the Majors still sit a point ahead of the Trappers for fifth place in the GNML standings. The Trappers do hold four games in hand, and have 16 points to the Majors' 17. In a seven-team league where the only last-place squad doesn't make the playoffs, the Kapuskasing Flyers are currently bringing up the rear with nine points through 20 games.

Bradette said the Majors always look forward to returning home to their inspiring fan support at the McIntyre Arena, where the team will face off against the Cubs on Saturday, Nov. 29 at 7:30 p.m.

The Majors will follow that up with a game on Sunday, Nov. 30 at the Mac against the Nickel City Sons at 1:30 p.m.


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