It wasn’t what one would call a masterpiece, but, then again, it was a lot better than the chalk sidewalk drawing of last Wednesday, when the Sudbury Nickel Barons took the Abitibi Eskimos to the cleaners with a 6-3 victory down at the McLelland Arena in Copper Cliff
The Eskis doubled the Nickel Barons 4-2 Friday night at the McIntyre Arena, gaining a measure of revenge for Wednesday’s performance, and, to some extent, re-establishing their superiority over a Sudbury team that most generously can be called unpredictable.
The trouble with unpredictable teams is that that can be dangerous at the most inopportune times.
The Nickel Barons didn’t play all that badly on Friday night – but at times a lack of discipline on their part led to penalties – two to team Captain Greg Dusick – and the Eskis converted Sudbury penalties into a pair of power play goals, one each by Landon Hiebert and Jamey Lauzon, which, with the benefit of hindsight, may have saved the Eskis bacon on this night, given that the Nickel Barons scored a couple of power play markers on their own. Zach Innes, with the first goal of the game and his 10th of the year, and defenseman Ryan Kerr scored the other Eskis goals.
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Landon Hiebert (22) scored a power play goal in the first period to give the Eskis a 3-0 lead over the visiting Sudbury Nickel Barons at the McIntyre Arena.[/caption]
The Nickel Barons were assessed 12 of the 20 penalties called by the officials.
Sylvain Miron earned the win in goal for the skis, stopping 24 of the 26 shots he faced, while Michael Muzycka in the Nickel Barons goal was peppered with 45 shots by the Eskis over the three periods.
Eskis officials were pleased with the crowd at The Mac - well over 600 attended the game, and the 50-50 draw set a record for the year - the lucky winner took home $733.
The Eskis are home next Tuesday vs troubled North Bay (reports are they're looking for a new home) and next Saturday they take on the Sault Thunderbirds at The Igloo.
Feature Picture:
Eskis goaltender Sylvain Miron stopped 24 of the 26 shots he faced to earn the win in Friday’s 4-2 Abitibi win over Sudbury.
