Good as gold in Kirkland Lake
Hail to the champs from the mile of gold in historic Kirkland Lake.
In front of more than 1,000 frenzied fans at Joe Mavrinac Community Complex, Kirkland Lake Gold Miners edged Soo Thunderbirds 2-1 on Tuesday to win the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League championship.
Second-seeded Kirkland Lake upended the top-ranked Soo in six games in a hotly-contested best-of-seven series.
Kirkland Lake will represent the NOJHL at the Dudley-Hewitt Cup, Central Canada Championships that begin on April 29 in Wellington, Ont.
In winning three rounds of the playoffs, ousting the North Bay Trappers, Espanola Rivermen and the Soo, Kirkland Lake posted a record of 12-2.
Congrats boy’s ! all the best at the Dud !
Can’t wait to get our hands on them
Congratulations to the Gold Miners. Randy, will you be covering the Dudley in Wellington?
Fanman,
Staying home, spring cleanup, says my wife.
NOJHL Champs! well done Gold Miners!
KL is # 1! I told you so a month ago!
Congratulation to the KL Gold Miners on winning a hard fought series.
Congrat’s to the Thunderbirds as well for always rep-resenting the Soo with Class with capitol “C”.
Nice to see that our Coach shook hands after the game – perhaps the KL Coach can learn that you shake hands whether you Win or Lose!
Hey RR: I Forgot to ask if ur ok today – you know since your Zoo Birds lost last nite! Try not to be to upset RR – just remember that the BEST TEAM WON!
Hey birdsfan — its time to change the strings on your violin and accept defeat.
The game was won on the ice, fare and square. Both teams played a clean series and both Coaches have praise for each other so be a Sport and admit that both teams were in a class by themselves.
Congrats to KL! You worked extremely hard for what you have accomplished and now you are being rewarded……good luck at the Dud!!!!
Randy: I just read the Picton Gazette newspaper on-line and I must say your interview with the paper was great and very informative. Good job.
Thanks, Fanman.
as a opposing fan always loved when these guy’s came to town, a very highly skilled great skating team ! with an exceptional coaching staff, once again all the best at the Dudley, KL Goldminers ! kick some ass boys, do your town and the league proud ! we are all behind you.
BirdsFan – It was a great game here in KL last night between 2 solid teams. Soo coach Smith did a tremendous job in getting his guys to play their hearts out until the very end. However, since you want to mention handshakes ( or lack thereof ), after KL won, Soo coaches and just about every Soo player was gracious in congratulating the Miners. Very glaring exceptions were Syrette and prima donna Haines – both left the ice immediately at final buzzer and did not shake hands. What do you have to say about that since you like to level criticism regarding sportsmanship?
I say that Syrette and Haines are kids and Lafleur is a Prima Donna Adult who gets paid to Coach and be a role model.
Hey BirdsFan ,
Didn’t all the former coaches for the Birds a few years ago get lengthy suspensions for their actions ? I think they were paid to be coaches as well . Lighten up a bit dude people are different and they handle things differently . It’s a learning experience called life . We all make mistakes , it’s how you learn and grow from the experience that makes you the person you become . It was a great series played at a high level between two well coached , evenly matched and talented teams . Somebody wins the last game of the year and somebody loses . The difference was a bounce here or there . I’ve spent most of my life at hockey rinks and any good coach has a bit of arrogance , it’s part of the makeup of being the type of person who wants to be in charge , run the show and accept the accountability at theend of the day .
SORRY! – Don’t give me that about them being kids – they are ADULTS, young maybe, but adults nonetheless and role models in their own right. Perhaps Haines was too embarrassed to shake hands after he chirped Pominville all series? Hmmm – I think Pominville came out on top there. I do not condone coach Lafleur’s decision to not shake hands last year vs. NB, if that indeed was the case – he is a leader and should definitely know better, but don’t try to tag 19 & 20 year-old players as not having any responsibility to act their ages!
Bravo to the Goldminers!, they were a nice team to watch all year. I was at game #3 at the complex and it was a great game, couldn’t make the game #6 but wish I could have, must have been a good game 2-1.
Good luck at the Dudley…
Hey birdsfan if you are talking about the final game North Bay Vs KL last year when we booted the Miners out, well I am from the bay, and I was at the game and I was a N B Supporter all year and there was a hand shake after the game.. Were do you get your info or if you were there you must of been looking at the good looking ladies. I hope no one tells you that tomorrow is Xmas.
two well deserving teams that made it to the finals and it could have gone either way. congrats to KL on the victory. Thanks to R.R. for all your coverage and keeping us informed all season, your work is very much appreciated.
Thanks, hockeyguy02.
Regards,
RR
JR – thanks for verifying that Marc Lafleur did shake hands after the final playoff game against the Trappers last year. There were a number of people that made negative reference to that falsehood on this website over the course of this season. I really had doubts about the veracity of those claims as I have spoken to him on a couple of occasions and find him to be a genuinely respectful man.
JR..you are right on….Lafleur and McArthy did shake hands after last year’s playoff between their two teams…I really did not appreciate the nonsense and attacks that Lafleur went through all year long on this blog and Bloggers should respect professionalism and dedication of those under the” presure cooker” in attempting to get their players to the next level of play…If you check Marc Lafleur’s record in this regard you will see that his track record is impecable and is very much appreciated by the players he has moved on to bigger and better things throughout his ten year coaching career and this does include players throughout the North…
Congrats to the Miners and their fans, nice team and I’m sure they’ll do the NOJHL proud next week!
Congrats to Lafleur and I’m glad he was rewarded for his hard work in his recruiting efforts, he searched near and far and built a winner. KL fans fortunate to have such a hard working coach and GM, he recognized the kids won’t just showup in KL so he did the leg work to find the best available talent, built their confidence and coachec them to a championship! Good for him and good for the kids who travelled to KL to play for him!
Enjoy the moment KL, I know its a great feeling! Best of Luck in the DHC!
Dudley Hewitt ticket office in Wellington reporting a high number of ticket inquiries are coming in from Kirkland Lake supporters.