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Trappers dominating the Great North Midget League

'I felt our team was good enough to be extremely competitive in our league'
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Trappers celebrate a goal against the Kapuskasing Flyer. Photo by Chris Dawson/BayToday.ca.

The North Bay Major Midget AAA Trappers circled November 10th on the calendar.  

That was the day the Trappers were facing the second place Kapuskasing Flyers.  The Trappers came in with a flawless 15-0 record, while the Flyers, meeting the Trappers for the first time, were sporting a 14-1 record.   

The Trappers passed their toughest test with a convincing 6-2 victory over the visitors in Powassan on Saturday night.   

The Trappers moved to 16-0 and now have all seven of the top scorers in the Great North Midget League from their squad, which includes Joe Jordan leading the way with 14 goals and 22 assists for 36 points in 16 games this season.

“I felt our team was good enough to be extremely competitive in our league,” said head coach Guy Blanchard who is back for what he says is his third and final season coaching the major AAA midgets.  

“Our goal at the beginning of the year was try to go undefeated in our league, to win a tournament and go up against the big teams and be right there with them. I thought we would need a few more months to get to that point but the players have certainly bought into a lot of things.”

The Trappers are dominating in league play and won their first tournament already, going 5-0-2 en route to a gold medal victory at the Ottawa Senators Showcase Tournament back in the middle of October.  

Blanchard says this version of the Major Midget AAA Trappers has a lot of talent, competes hard and with the tandem of minor midget Ben Gaudreau and Battalion pick Reece Proulx, the dominating Trappers have arguably one of the top major midget AAA goaltending duos in the province.  

Blanchard believes his challenge moving forward is to keep his team motivated due to some of the lopsided league scores from early in the season.  

“I can’t tell you that is it not difficult,” noted Blanchard.

“There are times when they come out and they are complacent a little bit. We knew at the beginning of the year that it was going to be difficult to keep them always motivated all the time, however they are a focussed group.”

With such a great start Blanchard believes this team is poised to claim a Great North Midget League title after two seasons in a row of falling short in the finals to Sudbury.  

“It’s not how well you do at the beginning it is how well you do at the end and sometimes it takes a hot goalie to beat you and the past two years Sudbury did not outplay us but they had outstanding goaltending and we have to find a way,” admitted Blanchard.   

“We are only half way through the season so they have to stay focussed and understand they want to win the Great North Midget league and play in Clarington at the OHF’s.”


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Chris Dawson

About the Author: Chris Dawson

Chris Dawson has been with BayToday.ca since 2004. He has provided up-to-the-minute sports coverage and has become a key member of the BayToday news team.
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