Northern Ontario Junior A Hockey League

February 22, 2012
Posted in Ontario Edition, Junior A

BY SAM LASKARIS /

If they could improve their road performances a bit, the North Bay Trappers might be a team that could do some damage come playoff time.

As of mid-February, the Trappers were sitting in third place of the league’s four-team Eastern Division.
With its 48 points, North Bay was trailing the division-leading Sudbury Cubs by 12 points and the second-place Abitibi Eskimos by four points.

The Trappers though had some games in hand. They had played three less than Sudbury and two fewer than Abitibi.
This in part also explains how the third-place Trappers had a better home winning percentage than the two squads ahead of them. North Bay had registered a 16-6-0 home mark.

Abitibi also had 16 victories on home ice but it had played 23 times. Sudbury had won 15 out of its 22 home contests.

The Trappers though have not had as much success on the road, as they were sporting a 8-12-0 record.

If the standings remain the same at the conclusion of the regular season, North Bay will square off against Abitibi in a best-of-seven divisional semi-final series.

As for the division’s fourth-place team, the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners, they have the potential to pull off one of the biggest upsets in league history.

The Gold Miners, who might not even win a regular season game, will probably face Sudbury in its best-of-seven Eastern semi-final series.

This Kirkland Lake franchise is only officially playing 11 regular season games. The Gold Miners did not inherit the record of the Kirkland Lake Blue Devils who folded in mid-January.

The Gold Miners were winless after their first seven games.

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