There’s no doubt that the Abitibi Eskimos were full value for their 8-1 romp over the North Bay Trappers at the Jus Jordan Arena in Iroquois Falls Tuesday night.
But they’d have felt a whole lot better if star forward and team leading scorer Brady Clouthier could have celebrated the victory with them.
Instead, the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey league’s leading game-winning goal scorer spent the night in hospital, after having been hit in the head with the shoulder of Trapper’s forward Zachary Shankar near the midway point of the second period.
Shankar hit Clouthier with his shoulder as the Eskis forward was skating out of his own end to begin an Eskis rush on beleaguered North Bay goaltender Evan Cormier.
Although the Eskis prevailed on the score sheet, there was a palpable silence in the arena as Clouthier lay motionless on the ice for nearly 20 minutes before paramedics carefully lifted him and place him on a stretcher and took him out of the end of the arena to a waiting ambulance.
Allie Blais, billet coordinator for the Eskis, said she was in touch with the hospital after the game and it was reported Clouthier was awake, alert and was talking. It is not yet known how long he will remain in hospital.
Trappers head coach Zane Neily said the hit and the injury to Clouthier affected his team’s play for the rest of the game, saying they were tentative in all their plays and their hits on the Eskis. Nevertheless, Trappers Jake Ibbotson was assessed yet another hit-to-the-head penalty in the third period.
The first period of the game was fairly even, although the Trappers seemed to be having trouble keeping up with the Eskis Andrew Green who was putting on a display of perpetual motion that had the crowd enthralled. Ryan Wildman opened the scoring for the Eskis with a shorthanded goal at 13:34 before Eric Champagne tied it two minutes later while Zach Innes was serving a roughing minor for the Eskis.
The second period belonged to the black-and- gold as Erik Robichaud scored twice and Ryan Tront and Innes added singles to give the Eskis a 5-1 lead after two periods. Brenden Locke scored goals 28 seconds apart in the third – that’s when Trappers coach Neily yanked Cormier and put newcomer Lucas Paulsen in net for the remainder of the game. Robichaud added his third goal of the game with just over a minute left, capping a five-point night for the Eskis.
With the win, the third place Eskis improved to 28-20-0-3 on the season. The league-leading Sault Ste. Marie Thunderbirds are in Iroquois Falls for a game this Saturday against the Eskis.
Featured Picture - Abitibi Eskimos star forward Brady Clouthier is carried off the ice on a stretcher after having lain motionless for nearly 20 minutes during the second period of Tuesday’s 8-1 win over the North Bay Trappers. He was a victim of an illegal hit to the head by North Bay forward Zachary Shankar.
[caption id="attachment_28827" align="aligncenter" width="448"]
Abitibi Eskimos star forward Erik Robichaud has just deposited the pick behind North Bay goaltender Evan Cormier early in the second period. It was the winning goal as the Eskis thumped the Trappers 8-1[/caption]
