Top Stories
April 24, 2008 10:44 PM
Northwestern Ontario champs meet Newmarket in Dudley semifinal
By: Jim Mason, staff writer
We can’t repeat the Dryden Ice Dogs’ post-game chant here.
It’s X-rated.
Suffice to say it starts with “I don’t know...” and ends with words newspaper publishers don’t allow writers to use.
To hear it, you’ll have to attend the Dudley Hewitt Cup in Newmarket this weekend and hope for another Ice Dogs’ win. They’ll play the host Newmarket Hurricanes in the semifinal of the central Canada Jr. A hockey championships Friday night.
The Ice Dogs, the Superior International Jr. A Hockey League champions. defeated the Sudbury Jr. Wolves, kings of the Northern Ontario loop, 4-0 Thursday afternoon in the battle of winless teams at the four-team event and earned the playoff berth.
The Oakville Blades won 5-2 over Newmarket in the matchup of 2-0 teams later in the day to get the bye to Saturday’s final.
Dryden’s small but loud cheering section chanted “Harry, Harry...” in the post-game in celebration of goaltender Graeme Harrington, whose shutout earned him player-of-the-game honours.
It was a big-time Dryden turnaround from allowing 12 goals and potting only two during the first two games.
“That game was more our style (compared to the first two); more chippy,” said Winnipeger Carson Shields, one of several Western Canadians on the Dryden roster. “We like to play more of a physical game. We don’t have the speed in our lineup to skate with Oakville’s four lines.”
Outside the Sudbury room, the Wolves were saying good-bye, sharing vacation plans and wondering what went wrong,
“It’s hard to come this far and not being able to put it together to get one win,” captain Jordan Cheechoo, who played major junior in Ontario and Quebec, said. “The guys are experiencing so many emotions, especially the 20-year-olds.”
Born in Moose Factory, Cheechoo now calls Sudbury home.
But next week he’ll be in Dallas watching his only brother, Jonathan Cheechoo of the San Jose Sharks, play the hometown Stars in the Stanley Cup playoffs