Coming off a 2-1 win over the North Bay Trappers at home on Wednesday, the Sudbury Nickel Capital Wolves were unable to keep the prosperity going, with a home game on the road.
Facing off against the Kapuskasing Flyers last Saturday in Sturgeon Falls, the Nickel Caps opened the scoring, with André Paquette netting the only goal of the first period, but were unable to hold on for the win.
Goals from Trevor Cheff and Martin Isabelle gave Kapuskasing the lead before the end of the middle frame, with Cheff adding some insurance with his second of the game at 5:11 of the third.
With a record of 14-6-1-1, Sudbury sits five points back of the league-leading Soo Thunderbirds (17-5-1-0), with the New Liskeard Cubs hot on the heels of the locals, one point back of the Wolves at 14-6-1-0.
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The jostling between the Nickel City Sons, Timmins Majors and North Bay for fourth, fifth and sixth place in the standings continued, with the Sons losing ground to both of their rivals in head to head matchups last week.
Thursday night in North Bay, Jeff Jordan scored midway through the five minute overtime session, lifting the Trappers to a 2-1 win over the visitors from Nickel City.
Jordan had also put the homeside on the board with a tally early in the first, a goal that looked like it might stand as the winner until Mackenzie MacMillan forced the extra period, beating Colton Point with less than six minutes remaining in regulation time.
The Sons fared no better at home come Sunday, dropping a 4-3 decision to the Majors when Alexandre Brisson snapped a 3-3 tie early in the third period. Jace Soroko, Dillan Bruce and Tyler Dacosta rounded out the scoring for the winners, with Broedy Bertrand, André Frappier and MacMillan replying for Nickel City.
The Sons are currently clinging to fourth place with a record of 11-9-1-0 (23), just ahead of North Bay (10-11-1-1=22) and Timmins (8-15-1-2=19).
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The Majors win over Nickel City snapped an eight game losing skid, one that was extended twice last weekend prior to the team arriving in Hanmer on Sunday. Marshal Nikitin broke a 2-2 deadlock, netting his 16th goal of the year with 1:07 to play, allowing New Liskeard to double Timmins 4-2 Friday night at the Don Shepherdson Arena.
Christian Ethier, Cayse Ton and Jacob Leveillé, with an empty-net marker, also scored for the Cubs, while Soroko handled all of the offense for the visiting Majors with a two-goal effort.
North Bay capped off a productive week with a 6-3 win over Timmins on Saturday, as defenseman Garrett Bosum tripled his goal-scoring output, netting a pair to show the way.
Charlie Isherhoff, Craig Johnson, Jack Drinkwalter and Jordan also pulled the trigger for the Trappers, while Dillan Bruce, with two, and Brisson countered for coach Matt Tremblay and company.
New Liskeard extended their winning streak to four games on Sunday, doubling Kapuskasing 6-3 as Justin Brazeau (2), Nikitin, Ton, Leveille and Ethier all found the back of the net.
Justin Pilon, P.A. Leblanc and Isabelle scored for the Flyers, who must string some wins together soon in order to avoid missing the playoffs. With a record of 6-17-0-1, Kapuskasing trails Timmins by six points, though they still hold two games in hand.
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Speaking of the post-season, the GNML has been forced to re-visit their format with the return of Sault Ste Marie this year, expanding the league lineup to seven teams. With that in mind, both the first and second place teams, at the end of the regular season, will receive first round playoff byes.
Third place will host sixth place, and fourth and fifth will go head to head in best two of three affairs. From there, the top ranked team will battle the lowest remaining seed in the best of five semi-finals, with second place meeting up with the other survivor.
As always, the championship final will be a best of five series, with the GNML champions moving on the 2015 Central Region Championships being hosted by the Toronto Young Nationals from March 30th until April 5th, 2015.
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Meanwhile, down at the Waterloo Wolves Tournament, Kapuskasing is, ironically, the only one of the GNML entries still unbeaten after a pair of games. The Flyers played to a 1-1 draw with the Huron-Perth Jr Cullitons before slipping past the Nickel Capital Wolves 3-2.
New Liskeard opened with a 5-4 loss to the host Waterloo Wolves, but have bounced back for a pair of ties, playing even-steven hockey with both the Cambridge Hawks (2-2) as well as the Toronto Jr Canadians (3-3).
Sudbury and Nickel City are both 0-2, with the Nickel Capital Wolves beaten 5-1 by the Halton Hurricanes in their opening game, before falling to Kap. The Sons were on the wrong end of a 3-0 decision to the Oakville Rangers as well as a 3-1 loss to Halton.
Along with the Great North Midget contingent, the Waterloo event also finds the Nickel City Sons and Soo Thunder bantam "AAA" teams in action, as well as the Sudbury Minor Midget "AA" Elite Wolves.
