West and Fernley lead Jr. A Trappers past Eskis

IROQUOIS FALLS, ON - Ryan West scored three times and added 1 assist and Travis Fernley registered 5 assists as the North Bay Junior 'A' Trappers got their first win of the season in a 7-3 road win over the Abitibi Eskimos on Wednesday night at Jus Jordan arena.

The line of Fernley-Sontag-West was dominant on this night as the trio registered 12 points between them.

The Trappers built up a 2-0 lead in the first started by former Royal Stephan Gunner and then Dylan Sontag scored goals less than 20 seconds apart.

The two teams exchanged goals in the second period as West scored twice while Joel Roy and Ben Hilborn scored for the Eskis to close the gap.

In the third, Eskis rookie Richard Therrien - who attended the Trappers summer camp in July - made it 4-3 less than 2 minutes into the third.

J.P. Kascsak got the insurance marker back around the 7-minute mark of the third and Jonathan Aubertin sealed the win with a shorthanded goal with less than 4 minutes left in regulation.

With less than 3 minutes left, rookie Ryan West finished up his hat trick performance.

With the win the Jr. 'A' Trappers move to 1-2 on the season. Junior 'A' Trappers head coach and G.M. Ian Swalucynski saw a big difference in his club from the past weekend in Sault Ste. Marie.

“Honestly we did the little things better, we battled harder, we had more edge to the game and guys were following what we were doing in practice," he said after the win.

"We are getting success from it (practice) and we didn’t dig ourselves in a hole early. This is a good building point.”

The win was also a confidence builder from the stand point of where the two points came from. Last year the Trappers struggled with only 2 wins in 10 regular season meetings against the Eskis.

"The win was so nice, especially 7-3," said returnee Jonathan Aubertin after the game.

Micheal Mitchell had the win in goal stopping 31 shots for the Trappers.

The club's home opener is this Friday, September 17th when they host the 1-0-1 Temiscaming Royals. Game time is 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Gardens.