NOJHL announces schedule for league championship series

NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE

NOJHL COMMUNICATIONS
MEDIA RELEASE

Release Date: Tuesday, April 9, 2013

NOJHL announces schedule for league championship series

SUDBURY — The Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League announced Tuesday that the schedule for the league championship series between the North Bay Trappers and Soo Thunderbirds for the Copeland Cup-McNamara Trophy has now been finalized.

Game 1 in the best-of-seven affair gets underway Friday at 7:30 p.m. at North Bay’s Memorial Gardens.

Essar Centre in Sault Ste. Marie will stage game 2, and features a 7 p.m. face-off Sunday.

Action returns to the Memorial Gardens for game 3 on Tuesday, April 16 with the two sides taking to the ice at 7:30 p.m.

Two night s later on April 18 game 4 goes at 7:30 p.m. back at Essar Centre.

If necessary, the fifth contest in the series will be staged in North Bay on Sunday, April 21 and will get underway at 2 p.m.

Should it be required, game 6 is slated for Monday, April 22 and will be held at the John Rhodes Community Centre in Sault Ste. Marie as the Essar Centre will be in use hosting the 40th annual TELUS Cup Canadian national midget hockey championship April 22-28.

If the NOJHL final goes right down to the wire, then game 7 goes Wednesday, April 24 at Memorial Gardens in North Bay at 7:30 p.m.

This marks the second consecutive year that the Trappers and Thunderbirds have met in the NOJHL finals with the Soo winning in five games in 2012 before going on to capture the Dudley-Hewitt Cup in Thunder Bay and advancing to the semifinals in last season’s Royal Bank Cup in Humboldt, Sask.

As the Trappers are already serving as the host team for the Dudley-Hewitt Cup April 30 through May 4, both North Bay and the Thunderbirds have automatically qualified for the four-team event, which will also feature the champions of the Ontario Junior and Superior International Junior Hockey Leagues.

The OJHL Buckland Cup final features the St. Michael’s Buzzers and Newmarket Hurricanes and begins Wednesday in Toronto.

Meanwhile the Minnesota Wilderness and Fort Frances Lakers will complete for the Bill Salonen Cup title with that match-up beginning Friday in Cloquet, Minn.

Each series will be decided in a best-of-seven format.

The DHC champion will then move on to represent the region at the Royal Bank Cup May 11-19 in Summerside, P.E.I.

NOJHL Finals Schedule
For the Copeland Cup-McNamara Trophy
No. 1 North Bay Trappers vs. No. 2 Soo Thunderbirds
Best-of-seven series

Game 1: Friday, April 12 @ North Bay 7:30 p.m. (Memorial Gardens)
Game 2: Sunday, April 14 @ Sault Ste. Marie 7 p.m. (Essar Centre)
Game 3: Tuesday, April 16 @ North Bay 7:30 p.m. (Memorial Gardens)
Game 4: Thursday, April 18 @ Sault Ste. Marie 7:30 p.m. (Essar Centre)
Game 5*: Sunday, April 21 @ North Bay 2 p.m. (Memorial Gardens)
Game 6*: Monday, April 22 @ Sault Ste. Marie 7:30 p.m. (Rhodes Arena)
Game 7*: Wednesday, April 24 @ North Bay 7:30 p.m. (Memorial Gardens)

*-if necessary

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