NOJHL tickets punched
Three of four seats for the divisional playoff dance have been booked. Timmins Rock — yes, Timmins Rock — and Cochrane Crunch from the East block along with Rayside Balfour Canadians from the West side have all punched their tickets to the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League division finals.
Soo Eagles and Soo Thunderbirds will determine the other West Division finalist. The cross-river rivals will meet tonight at 7:00 at Pullar Stadium in the Michigan Soo with the Eagles leading the best-of-seven series three games to two.
As for the other sets, the major upset — one that Hockey News North called — came in the form of a stunning fall from grace by the regular season champion Powassan Voodoos.
Powassan, which finished 50 points — yes, 50 points — ahead of no. 5 seed Timmins during the regular season, saw its hopes of a repeat championship hit a Rock on Sunday.
The Cinderella troops from Timmins completed an improbable upset of Powassan with a 2-1 overtime victory to take the series four games to two.
Powassan management may have thought it would matter little when it opted to fire popular head coach Beau Moyer in January after he was given a 15-game suspension by the NOJHL for breaking a league rule pertaining to socializing with his players where alcohol was being served.
But it is the Voodoos as an organization that may well be feeling like it is staggering from a bad hangover today.
As Timmins will meet no. 2 seed Cochrane — which ousted no. 3 seed Kirkland Lake Gold Miners in five games in the East finals — Rayside-Balfour will face the winner of the Twin Soo series in the West finals.
After falling behind two games to one in its series with Blind River, no. 1 seed Rayside-Balfour rallied to upend the no. 4 seed Beavers in six tough games.
PHOTO: Timmins players Rock on after their series win over the Powassan Voodoos. (Photo by Timmins Daily Press.)
I believe this is the chinese year of the dog . Might mean also the year of the under dog hockey teams .
Powassan’s coaching decisions…both the firing and repositioning of an asst, coach to head coach could be the basis of the upset result….Vitali will be given the chance to reprogram the Voodoo jet…….hopefully Batt prospects will become black aces for the playoff run….
Poetic justice as Moyer protege and layer powasson gave up on is overtime hero. As the saying goes-karma’s a bitch!!!
A shout out to the over 1500 timmins rock fans who filled the arena to watch the rock upset the voodoos. Must of been a great atmosphere. Good luck the rest of the way.
Well Timmins it is. Should be a good series and as long as the Crunch boys have their heads on straight I believe they will burst Timmins bubble. Timmins should be in the right of frame of mind and though and who knows is there another upset in the winds?
Timmins over Powassan – and in 6 games! Whoda thunk it, eh? Well, one person we know thunk it – RR picked Timmins in his playoff meanderings way back on March 15. Your crystal ball was sure working well on that one Randy. (Perhaps you should have made an exception to your betting practices, and taken Norm for his $100. That would buy a few nice cold wobblers!)
Now, down to the meat. You suggested earlier that you would have more to say regarding the whole coaching debacle in Powassan, when more facts had come to light. Do you have more or better information now, Randy? I’m sure there are many others, like us, who would welcome any more factual info.
Let us in on all the dirt, eh man.
Cheers!
I bet Beau Moyer has a big smile on his face like the Grinch seeing the Powassan Voodoos go from the top NOJHL club to being eliminated in the first round…
Interesting thought, Ryan, but somehow I doubt that Beau Moyer is that kind of person or hockey man. He knows what he did wrong, and my guess is that, rather than being pleased at the outcome (out of bitterness towards the owners), Beau is very disappointed for the team in general, and the players and fans in particular.
Anyway, when all the dust has settled, time will tell, eh.
Powassan Woodoos to Iroquois falls Woodoos ???
Anything to do about Powasson to Iroquois Falls. As much as I would love to see it, The fan base would certainly be higher the corporate sponsorship would be down. Again would love to see it!