Tonight in the NOJHL


By
March 30, 2014

Final four playoffs resume in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League tonight with a pair of games.

Top-seeded Soo Thunderbirds will play host to fourth-ranked Abitibi Eskimos while third-place Espanola Rivermen are home to second-seeded Kirkland Lake Gold Miners.

Soo and Kirkland Lake lead their respective series 1-0 following one-goal victories in the openers.

Playing without league MVP and first all-star team goalie Joel Horodziejczyk for the fifth straight game, the Thunderbirds outshot visiting Abitibi 40-22 on Saturday night and hung on for a 5-4 triumph.

Defenceman Owen Headrick, the NOJHL’s rookie-of-the-year, had a two-assist outing to help the Soo to victory.

Meanwhile, on Friday night in Kirkland, the Gold Miners withstood a last-minute goal by Espanola to post a 2-1 triumph before a home crowd of 628.

Jeremy Pominville blocked 21 shots to backstop the Gold Miners to the win.

PHOTO: Soo defenceman Owen Headrick had a pair of assists on Saturday in a 5-4 win over Abitibi. (Photo by Ali Pearson.)


What you think about “Tonight in the NOJHL”

  1. If the Thunderbirds don’t get Horodziejczyk back and in good shape soon, based on the tight games thus far against BR and Abitibi, they won’t have a chance against KL if it gets that far.

  2. I apologize in advance Randy for highjacking your comment section with a comment that’s a little off topic.

    But what is really grinding my gears is the subject of the Fasthockey commenting. Is it really too hard to ask that those that cover these games at least try to hide their biases? This is not directed to any of the commentators specifically, although i must admit the KL game on Friday is what really motivated me to finally decide to write something about it.

    I think people forget that for some of the hockey players, their families can never see them play live due to distance ie players from the US, and they rely solely on Fasthockey to watch their sons play. Also, keep in mind that for the most part, your fans are in your home rink watching the game and the majority of those watching Fasthockey are likely the opposition’s fans — so do us all a favour and stick to covering the game without the biased editorial comments and for God sake , if you see a spearing before a “violent” crosscheck, call it.

    I’ve spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars watching games this season and I think that this should be made clear to all announcers at the beginning of each game. I understand that many of these folks volunteer to do this job and to them I tip my hat.

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