NOJHL playoffs start tonight
It’s that time of the season again.
Playoff time.
The first puck will drop on the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League playoffs tonight.
Sudbury Nickel Barons, sixth-place finishers during the regular season, will play host to the third-seeded Espanola Rivermen in a 7:30 p.m. start at McClelland Arena.
The best-of-seven series will then shift to Espanola for Games 2 and 3 on Friday night and Sunday afternoon at the Regional Recreation Complex.
Games times are 7:30 p.m. on Friday and 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Espanola finished 20 points ahead of Sudbury during the 2013-2014 regular season but the teams are seen as being a lot more evenly-matched than their records might indicate.
Both teams are well coached.
Veteran junior hockey bench boss Tom McCarthy calls the shots for the Rivermen while former Ontario Hockey League assistant Jason Young took over as head coach of the Nickel Barons midway through the 2013-2014 campaign.
Looking forward to the game tonight should be a good one ! Thanks for the great coverage of hockey in the north land Mr Russon !
Thank you, Barons Fan!
I agree still the best Hockey coverage in the North by RR.
As for this Series, I think the Barons can take this in 6.
Espanola is not as physical as the Barons IMHO and this can be a factor in the Playoffs.
Clayden over in Espy is one sharp cookie thats for sure.
good strategy by the Rivermen to have games on Friday night and Sunday afternoon to pack the rink.
Espanola came out flying and was all over Sudbury, like they were playing a peewee team for the first few minutes….. Then in typical NOJHL chaotic fashion the arena lights go off. After not being able to repair the lights the game was cancelled and fans were told to go home, 1/2 -3/4 of the fans were from Espanola.
I think the proceeds of this game should go to Espanola for travel expenses since the ownership decided they didn’t need to refund tickets, sorry K-tel wrist bands that they used instead of tickets, until there was maybe 60 fans left….. I’m a bitter fan!!!!!!
The Rivermen were taking it to them for sure.
Out went the lights I guess a transformer blew.
Ice plant could not be restarted. While 70% of
the crowd was from Espanola we left a bit disappointed
but also happy that the team came out strong. The
league should refund the teams expense to get there.
The players felt like they were playing a home game
with all the cheering from the Espo crazies.
On a side note what is going on in North Bay/Mattawa?
Where is Lucas Paulsen?
hockeyguy
I hear his parents pulled him out because the Trapper ownership could not afford to pay $100 bill and expected him to survive on thirty dollars a week for food, because that was all that could be afforded and he lost a lot of weight.
what happened was totally out of the control of the Barons, why should they fork out a couple K to the rivermen, whove already manipulated the schedule so they get the weekend gates! gimme a freaking break!
Eskisfan
First of all the Barons agreed to the schedule (they didnt have to) and it was their scheduling conflicts that made it this way (we still dont know where Sudbury’s game 4 will be played). Second why should the Rivermen fork out thousands of dollars again for nothing? the arena was at fault, even though nojhl website is blaming it on a city transformer…..every light was on in the arena except for the overhead flourescents (so you know the building had power). The Baron’s ownership made thousands of $ off the gate for a game that never happened then refused to reimburse the crowd , so I say in all fairness proceeds should go to the Rivermen to pay for travel. This game and how the problem was mismanaged is a disgrace to the NOJHL in my opinion.
Feel bad for the people of Espanola who are so hard up for cash. Ten bucks to get in that was reimbursable or to be used for the next game in Sudbury – must be tough times in Espo. Whether it was an blown transformer or a an arena problem, makes no difference. Bottom line is that the decision was made and it’s not the end of the world. Games 1 and 2 will be played on the weekend in Espo – maybe a collection plate can be passed for those who will have to wait until next week to use that 10 bucks in Sudbury. Games 3 and 4 will be played during the week in Sudbury and then Espo may just benefit from another weekend game.
Since the Rivermen dominated the opening 2 minutes, it may just have been sneaky Jason Young who pulled the plug on the electricity, fearing the almighty dominance that he was seeing. At least he didn’t stick a microphone on the Espo bench 🙂
I don’t think anyone here was complaining about the “ten bucks” Mike. It was more about how everything was handled, very shady in my opinion! Since you completely missed my point i will try to explain it again. Only maybe 60 of the hundreds(packed house) of people that were there, were actually informed that their “ktel wrist bands would get them into another game” In the beginning, when the whole arena lined up for refunds, the lady very rudely told everyone that there would be no refunds and quickly scurried to the back office, so 80% of the crowd ripped their bands off and left, not knowing they could use them again. So my point is, Sudbury will retain 80% of the gate sales for absolutely nothing, therefore they should simply SHARE these revenues with the Espanola team, to help offset costs that THEY had caused. It had absolutely nothing to do with whether anyone received their “ten bucks” back or not, because if I was to send an invoice for what happened it would include alot more than my “ten bucks”. I would be upset about my gas, wear and tear on my vehicle, my very valuable time, me taking time off work by leaving early so I could get there in time! (x 250 people from Espanola)
you would have heard me talking about that if the “ten bucks” was a problem.
Wow your ignorance is shown in full light mike.
Like chesty says why wrist bands, this is the first
time I have seen anything like this there. Also the
unwillingness to offer a refund does not leave a
good taste in some peoples mouths. It was funny though
when their manager said no way could the game be
played Thursday as the league does not work
that fast. Mike I find your condisending attitude
to be insulting in everyway. I am not a hard person
to miss at the games if you would like to talk.
Maybe everyone just need to remember that events like a transformer catching fire is a little more important……..without having full rink lights it poses a safety concern for anyone on the ice, more importantly if there is no power to the ice plant, there would be no ice, I wouldnt want to put any of my kids through that. And for all the other teams who are just trying to put in their two cents in about how refunds ects, your club would do the same thing, on any given day. Espanola is the only team in the league that can actually sell out, and have money in coffers, no one is asking for any money to be given back to either team because of this, most people understand that freak “acts of God” happen and there is nothing that can be done. life will go on.
Well, Chesty, my mistake. Sure sounded like you were complaining about the money lost. Heck, I mistakenly thought you blamed the NOJHL, the lady volunteer, the Ktel wrist bands, the Barons management, the arena – all chaotic and disgraceful. And for what? A blown transformer owned by Sudbury Hydro. Mistaken hostility my friend.
And yes, your time is valuable. Are you taking time off at work to write these eloquent posts? Espo to Copper Cliff is about 90 miles there and back so you must have used up a good 10-15 bucks in gas. Unless you car pooled, that brings your expenditure to at about 20-25 bucks. And the wear and tear on your vehicle must be terrible on that highway.
Mike
do you argue with people just to hear yourself talk? Lets hear your argument for this one, the sky is blue….go! In my opinion you couldn’t get the point of a sharp knife if it was handed to you. Once again you have completely missed the point, but I don’t have the time to get out my crayons to draw a picture so you actually get it, so I am going to move on, you can keep arguing with yourself!!!
cheers
Chestypipes
Looking forwwerd to Canadians Teams interlocking with the MWJHL. It will be official next month.