Surging Soo Eagles sweep
The odds of a no. 7 seed beating a no. 2 seed in a best of seven playoff series are very low. The odds of the no. 7 seed doing so in a four game sweep are even lower.
Well, against all odds, the no. 7 seed Soo Eagles are in the second round of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League playoffs following a stunning four game sweep of the no. 2 seed Powassan Voodoos.
After taking the first two games of the series in Powassan by scores of 7-4 and 6-1, the Eagles worked overtime in Games 3 and 4 on their home ice of venerable Pullar Stadium to put the finishing touches on the vanquish of the Voodoos with 4-3 and 3-2 victories.
What made the splendid series sweep so astonishing is that the seventh place Eagles finished a distant 26 points back of second place Powassan during the regular season. As the Eagles had a record of 23-26-3 for 49 points, the Voodoos rang up 75 points from a record of 36-13-3.
And to add a further exclamation point to the dramatic turnaround, the Eagles began the ’25-26 regular season with a record of 0-8-1. To be sure, in a season that started on September 12, the Eagles did not win their first game until October 7.
But that was then and this is now. The once lowly Eagles are off to the NOJHL semi finals, having done so in a most improbable manner.
In summation, there were certainly no shortage of high performance players for the Eagles in the four wins over the Voodoos.
Logan Stawizynski had four goals, five assists, nine points, defenseman Micah Seery came thorough with one goal, six assists, seven points, Nolan Nemecek had 3-3-6 totals, Lucas Caulfield and Anden Marceau both had 2-4-6 numbers and Jacob Peterson posted 4-1-5 totals. And between the pipes, Jace Knoerle made 212 saves in the four wins with a 2.13 goals against average and .950 save percentage.
HOW SWEEP IT IS. The Eagles were one of three teams to pull off a first round NOJHL playoff sweep, though the other two were not surprising. No. 1 seed Sudbury Cubs took the broom to the no. 8 seed Kirkland Lake Gold Miners while no. 3 seed Hearst Lumberjacks rode the four game minimum route to oust the no. 6 seed Espanola Paper Kings.
photo by Justin Cairns
Why does it still say unofficial final on the NOJHL website for game 4?
Powassan is protesting the 4 on 3 in OT.
Unofficial final on the NOJHL website. Rumors circling state Powassan has filed a protest due to the referee’s assessment of penalties in Overtime. Putting Soo 4 on 3 was improperly assessed . As a result the protest is being reviewed.
What the resolution is on this remains to be seen. Ugly stuff.
Really? I wouldn’t say it’s ugly more like petty. Refs coulda called a delay of game on the bench when they sent their trainer out to the goalie when he wasn’t even hurt or have an equipment issue.
Petty, to be sure.