Seventh heaven in Hearst
It is not too often in a playoff series when the no. 1 seed becomes the underdog against the no. 4 seed. But minus their top two scorers due to suspension and down three games to one in their Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League East Division semi-final set against the fourth-place Timmins Rock, few expected the first-place Hearst Lumberjacks to rebound.
But before a standing-room only crowd of 1,295 frenzied fans at Claude Larose Arena in Hearst on Wednesday, the Lumberjacks finalized a frantic series comeback to edge Timmins 3-2 in the seventh-and-deciding game of the scintillating showdown.
All three Hearst wins to take the set were accomplished minus the Lumberjacks two leading scorers, Jake Desando and Max Griffioen, who are under lengthy league suspension from infractions incurred in Game 3 of the series.
Desando is serving a 10-game suspension for intent to injure and Griffioen got a seven-game sentence for a head contact penalty.
To be sure, the Lumberjacks were in tough against the Rock following the suspensions. But Hearst coach-general manager Marc Lafleur noted how the Lumberjacks were able to overcome the odds of playing without Desando and Griffioen.
“We never lost faith,” Lafleur relayed. “When we were down 3-1 in the series, we said to the guys to just break down everything into increments.
“Instead of looking at it as we have to win three straight games, we said to just win the next period and the next shift, go from there and see what happens.
“This is the most resilient hockey team I have ever coached,” added the veteran NOJHL bench boss, who won a league championship a few years back while at the helm of the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners. “With all the stuff that went on and all the adversity we had to deal with, I knew we could come back because of the character of this team.”
Lafleur also praised Timmins in defeat, noting that only four points separated the first-place Lumberjacks and the well-coached, fourth-place Rock in the regular season standings.
The series win over Timmins puts Hearst into the East Division finals against the no. 3 seed Powassan Voodoos, who eliminated no. 2 seed Kirkland Lake in six games in the other semi-final set.
PHOTO: Hearst Lumberjacks pour onto the ice following their Game 7 victory over the Timmins Rock before an overflow crowd at Claude Larose Arena.
The Lumberjacks became the talk of the Hearst area during the playoffs and the way they handled the adversity earned them many fans & i know fans who went as far as switching their allegiance from the Rock in favor of the Lumberjacks! I’m one of them! Go Lumberjacks!